Backtracking

We had a great Christmas. I feel like I'm just now having time to sit down and reflect upon it. Things have been busy, as usual, and now it's...mid-January? Wow. Anyway, I have a wonderful family, including my sweet mother-in-law Ellie and my angel of a sister-in-law, Caitlin. We have started a new tradition (in it's second year) of hosting everyone here on the little circle in which my sister and I live. I highly recommend living down the street from your sister. Not only does it give everyone a free place to stay, it's like having extra refrigerators and ovens that you don't actually have to pay for! Believe me, we needed them. My husband has adopted trips to Costco as his husbandly duty lately, and there is quite a bit of excess as a result. (picture large amounts of bacon, sausage, and bulk chips and dips - love you, beeb!)

Anyway, we SO enjoy having everyone here. MCM and LCM were in heaven having so much attention and so many people to play with. KK and BT spent Christmas with BT's fam in DC, but they graciously allowed us the use of their home while they were gone. We had our Christmas Eve party there with the usual assortment of appetizers - sausage and cheese plates with Rendezvous sauce, mini-ham sandwiches, Chickfila nuggets, and chips and dips. Healthy, no, but delicious? Yes! Then we all gathered at our place on Christmas morning to watch MCM and LCM take 4 hours to open presents. MCM is at a great age where everything is exciting and magical. She savored every present - opened it, took it out of the package (with the help of scissors, pliers or additional tools needed - what are toys practically pad-locked into their boxes??), and played with it before moving on to the next one. It was great. She still tells me about each thing, "Santa bring me dis!" or "Ellie bought me!" She never forgets where something came from.

Later on the Beeb and I tried our best at creating a fancy Christmas feast. It was delicious, but afterward we were all pooped from playing, cooking, cleaning, eating, etc. I'm pretty sure Christmas night came early for everyone - except MCM, who stayed up later over the holidays than she ever has in her short life!

We had had so much to be thankful for this Christmas. It is always a blessing to have another Christmas to cherish the people you love, but this Christmas we have even more people to cherish. Sweet Lucy is here with us, my brother is engaged to be married to his girlfriend, whom we love, and my sister Kelly is expecting her first baby in July! So many fun things to look forward to!