Holiday Cheer

Well, the day is here at last!

  

The final holiday of the year.  2008 is waning and the dreams for 2009 begin to emerge.  Now is the time when we gather together with family to express in words and deeds our thanks for those we love and who love us.  We can reunite with old companions that we have been separated from. bridges can be spanned, if only for this one day of the year.  I was lucky enough to have that yesterday.  I sat at the table and ate a meal with my brother for the first time in two years.  It was wonderful.  Even though we have nothing in common and we are light-years apart in age and experience, we were able to talk and laugh about mundane things for a few hours.  It was a nice, quiet family dinner.  My dad cooked (which means that the meal was beyond fabulous) and my kids made dessert - homemade gingerbread cookies.  They made the dough all by themselves without help from mom or dad.  And, of course, they were fabulous!  We cut them out in fun holiday shapes and dipped them in sugar before cooking them to nice and crispy in the oven (I, of course, did help with that part!!!).  After dinner we opened presents.  The kids received many fun items from their Grandpa.  

    

Evan got many sports items, including a baseball mitt and a soccer ball.  Lolys got art supplies including a paint by numbers kit and a comprehensive art bag with markers, pencils, and crayons.  They were both very happy.  Jesus received clothes - my dad always knows just what to buy him to make him look smashing!  I got an electric griddle - just what I wanted!  In fact, I had been eyeing the same griddle my dad gave me just two days before and I had said to Jesus that we should try to buy it during the after-Christmas sales.  It is almost eerie that my dad & I think so alike (and it happens all the time!).  I also got Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling, which Lolys, Evan & I nearly finished reading last night.  What a great little book!  It really does give a lot of insight into the final Harry Potter book and I can't wait to read The Deathly Hallows again.  Lolys and I are currently almost finished reading book 6 (The Half Blood Prince) for the third time.  We headed home fairly early from my dad's and the kids headed off to bed in a timely manner.  We had set up our little tree (thank you Tara) and put out some cookies and soymilk for Santa and some shredded carrots for the reindeer.  Jesus and I stayed up playing on the computers and watching a movie.  We set up Santa's gifts for in the morning before heading off to bed!  

Lolys was the first one up in the morning.  most kids would have run straight out to see what presents had been left for them, but not my daughter.  She came to cuddle with her dad & me in bed and wait for everyone to wake up.  Evan had come in during the night, so there we were all crowded together in my full sized bed like canned sardines! About eight we all woke up and headed out to see what Santa had left for us.  Evan received a delux roundhouse for his Thomas the Tank engine train set.  It hooks in with his train tracks and has stalls for the trains and a turntable.  It even has a place for batteries so it can peep-peep as the trains go in & out.  Lolys received more art supplies including a black spiral-bound sketchbook, a wooden easel with a drawer containing six graphite pencils, a charcoal pencil, and three erasers.  In addition she got a book of how to sketch cats and an origami set.  They both received books from mom & dad and one week at YMCA winter camp.  Finally, they received presents from their Uncle Randy, Aunt Vickie and their family (Uncle Owen, Uncle Joel, Aunt Tay, Uncle Bryan, & Aunt Megan).

                                          

Their favorite was the Snow-to-go - just add water and you get a powdery "snow" that doesn't melt!!!  We cooked breakfast (french toast) on the new griddle and watched The Polar Express.  I am currently gearing up to make tamales.  I will leave now with this happy thought . . . Happy Holidays to all those I love, whether you are near or far.  Please know that I am thinking about you and I wish you all the best in the year to come. 

P. S. Here are pictures of my kids with Santa:

                                                  

And here is a picture of me with my true love and the wedding ring he (finally) gave me:

(it only took ten years to get one!!!)