And So It Was Christmas

Well as it always does Christmas came with a flurry of last minute shopping, baking, wrapping and snapping. Lol. I’m sure you know what I mean.  It seems like by the time Christmas is here I am a frazzled mess.  How does this happen?  I don’t mean for it to but it does.  Every. Single. Year.  I think I made ten trips to the grocery store this past week.  I wrapped presents and arranged get togethers and I loved all of that. And then it was over.  Just like that.  And I feel so free and liberated.  Who needs a present? nobody?  How many peanut butter balls do I need? zero.  How many gifts need to be wrapped? none.  Wow what will I do with all this free time.  I am sure I will find something.

We always have Christmas Eve at my sister Sandy’s house. This is for my side of the family.  For several years Mark has had to work and didn’t make it.  But he got off from work in time this year and was able to join us at my sister’s house.  We usually have about 25-30 people there.  Brothers, sisters, in-laws, nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews.  It is a lot of fun but also a lot of work. Everyone brings a covered dish and we do a dirty Santa drawing and we have so much fun.  All the littles still get presents from everyone so that is always fun to watch.

These are my nieces and nephews.  I think children is what Christmas is all about.  I enjoy spending time with them and watching them get so excited about opening presents.

So before going to my sister’s house on Christmas Eve I went in to work for a few hours.  I was walking into the village area where all of the gift shops are located and I stepped onto a wooden ramp that was slick with rain.  Just about the time I thought man this is slick. I fell flat on my back.  Luckily the village is not open so no one else was there.  I still had our maintenance department rope off the ramp just in case someone wandered over there.   The padding from my butt broke a good part of the fall. This is a time when the extra padding comes in handy.  I hit so hard it rattled my teeth.  I just laid there for a moment trying to determine whether anything was broken.  Once I was sure that I could move and bones were not sticking out I got up and limped off.  My back and hips hurt the rest of the day.  So needless to say I wasn’t in a very festive mood for our Christmas Eve get together.  I feel very fortunate that nothing was broken and I was able to walk away.

On Christmas Day I cooked dinner for my husband’s family, there is only three of them.  My sister in law brought her mother and my other sister in law came and then my sister and nephew arrived for dessert.   So we had about nine people and it was awesome!!!!  I love having people at my house even though it is a lot of work cooking and cleaning.  I always invite anyone who wants to come so I never know exactly how many people will show up.  I just make sure I cook a lot and I usually send the extra food home with people.

Scruffy loves my mother in law.  Actually he loves anyone sitting in this chair.  He will jump up and be snuggled by whomever happens to be in the chair.  He’s an equal opportunity lap dog.

The honey baked ham.  Yes it was delicious and we are still eating the leftovers.

Kitty Kitty can’t be bothered by all that is going on.  She still has to have her naps.

Santa was good to the babies.  As you can see Scruffy really loved that little blue Lamb Chop toy.

This is a life size Santa that Mark and I bought when we were first married.  We put him in our upstairs window so when you drive up you can see him looking out the window.  He is over twenty five years old, made of the hard plastic and we love him so.  I will admit I almost gave him away a few years ago because he was so big and took up so much room in the basement from Christmas to Christmas.  I am so glad I didn’t. Plus Mark would never have forgiven me. lol.

You know Christmas is not always easy.  It often looks like a lot of fun and festivities but many times people are missing loved ones and there is sometimes disappointments from expectations at Christmas time.  Christmas is sometimes a trying time especially as you get older.  Have extra consideration for your friends and loved ones during the holidays.  I hope you had a very Merry Christmas.

Always remember

Love your day your way