Love It, Love It, Love It!!

Well, I do hope you people had a great Christmas.  Ours was wonderful!  Christmas Eve was spent in Waycross with all of the inlaws and, my goodness, there are bunches of us now.  We packed in one house and ate a buffet of smoked, grilled or fried meat with all of the trimmings and a table absolutely full of sinful desserts.  We did our gift exchange which has come to look something like the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as we conduct our "Dirty Santa".  Then we headed back to Columbus, arriving home around 12:30 AM.  We spent the entire day on Christmas in our pajamas, napping, eating recreationally (nutrition had nothing to do with it) and playing with our boys.  Our boys saved their money and secretly bought Eddie and me the second season of Psych (best show ever!) which they taped to the bottom of a giant RC truck of theirs and wrapped in an unrecognizable mass of Christmas paper to throw us off.  Awesome!  For the last three years they have been using their money to get us a surprise gift and it gives us such a kick to see them get so excited over giving. I know I have said it before...I love Christmas!  

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Merry Christmas!

I am taking the rest of this week to spend time with the family.  I will be back here next week so I will  see you on Monday.  Have a Cool Yule!  

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Chocolate, Rudolph and Memories of Yesterday

I spent last night making Oreo truffles (cream cheesy goodness wrapped in dark chocolate...pure heaven!) and then I sat by the fire with my little boy in my lap watching Rudolph.  I have always had a love affair with all things Christmas and I cannot help but feel a bit nostalgic watching the same Christmas specials with my kids that I used to watch as a little girl.  I also find that at this time of year I miss my mother so much I can hardly breathe at times.  And now that she is gone, I no longer have that link to my grandmother who was my anchor growing up, helping me to find my way when everything around me was chaos.  But no matter how messy life was in my family, they always put aside what didn't matter to focus on what did at Christmas and I loved every day leading up to the moment when we could rush into the living room and see what Santa left by the fireplace for us.  And we all laughed and gave and ate and we had peace on earth even if only for a season.   Now that I am grown, peace is a way of life for my own little family and the moments of chaos are few and far between.  But still I love every moment leading up to Christmas day and I try to savor every moment with my children during these times that will all too soon be warm memories.  I pray that your time this week in celebration of the birth of our Savior will be filled with warmth and peace and nostalgia and great joy.  Merry Christmas to you all!

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