A belated Merry Christmas

to you. Some aren't saying Merry Christmas anymore. I do. To everyone. I know that my Muslim friends and Jewish friends do not care if I tell them Merry Christmas. They say it right back. It doesn't lessen their faiths. It doesn't increase my own. But it certainly brightens my day. 'Tis the season - that's all. So a BIG whopping Merry Christmas to you!

The family 'stuff' ended Saturday afternoon. A week of jam-packed with food, fun and merriment. Emphasis on the food part. It's no wonder that after January 1st all the work out equipment goes on sale & people are at the gym in hordes. I do think I behaved myself rather well though - food-wise at least. I did taste everything, of course, but smaller quantities helps enormously. My downfall? Fudge. I made 4 batches this year. I gave 95% of it away. So I got to eat the edges and I kept a small container for myself. The edges aren't even gone yet. I'd best put that container in the freezer. Maybe I will forget it until summer and have a nice treat later... oh who am I trying to kid?

The kids are still playing with all their new toys - they haven't lost their glimmer yet. Most of these are from other family members though. H came up with a plan last Christmas - to try to keep the focus on Christ. The kids get 3 gifts. After all, Jesus only got 3 gifts (gold, frankincense & myrrh). Why should they get more than Jesus Christ our Lord & Savior? (A family member pointed out that gold is worth a bit more than the items we give. But kids go for quantity not quality... we'll deal with that issue when they're old enough to think of it on their own!) We do pack a few different items together. I started a new 'tradition' this year that everyone gets undies. So 1 toy was wrapped with a package of undies. This will be an annual thing - and truly I can't wait until the kids are teenagers and then adults - and complain jokingly about Mom's underwear gift. It'll be GREAT! Hahahaha! Come ON, who CAN'T use an annual infusion of new undies in the drawer???

There's always been the tradition of a Christmas tree ornament. Not just 'any' ornament will do. A nice one. One they'll be proud to hang on the tree when they're 50. I don't want my kids having 'naked' Christmas trees when they no longer live at my house. I've witnessed friends and other family members go through this sad state of affairs. Granted when I got married, the tree was LOADED - with mostly my ornaments. But it was fun to tell all the stories that went with each one to H. I've got a little Eiffel Tower that I picked up in Paris, a little red double-decker bus from London, trolley car from San Francisco, a taxi from New York, mini gavel from the Supreme Court building in Washington D.C. and the list goes on and on and on and on. And each has a story behind it. So even though my kids will have a bunch of ornaments from Mom & Dad - they are all marked with the year - and 'With Love'. They'll never have a 'naked' tree. And they're all so pretty that I should have bought duplicate ones for H & I so that when the kids take theirs, we can still have those pretty ones on our tree. Next year I will.