It's Over!

It appears that everyone's on vacation from blogging, so I thought I'd try to liven it up a little bit. We had a great Christmas. We had my four nieces and nephews from Friday afternoon through Saturday night. It's so much fun to see Christmas through childrens' eyes! They remind me so much of my own excitement when I was little. The kids were so excited about opening presents! We kept all of our presents for their family here until Christmas Eve, so they spent a good deal of time studying them, touching them, and coveting them. I let them open a present to the four of them on Friday night. It was a collection of "Tom & Jerry" cartoons, which was quite a hit! And it wasn't just the kids who were cracking up! They watched the whole thing two more times on Saturday.

Until Lori and Chris came on Saturday afternoon, we did things like go for walks (the kids w/Grandpa), do puzzles, watch movies, look at presents, eat, etc. The girls told me several times that I was going to love what I got them. Jessie said, "You're going to love what I got you. It's one of my favorite movies!" I smiled and said, "Oh, so it's a movie, huh?" I could see some internal backpedalling going on, and then, "No, it's not a movie." Heh, heh, it was a movie.

In the afternoon I curled the girls' hair. I have very little experience with doing other people's hair, but they actually looked pretty cute afterwards. They've got the same fine, blonde hair that Lori and I have. Then when I was painting my nails (a very rare event) they wanted me to paint their nails too. Little girls are so fun.

So anyway, Lori and Chris came and we soon settled down for a roast beast feast. A prime rib, to be precise, and a very good one at that. When I didn't think I could hold any more food, my mom brought out the yule log (a rich chocolate concoction we have every year) and coffee. I guess there was a little space in there because I did fit some in. Mmmm...I've had so much chocolate the past couple of weeks! I ease my conscience by remembering its cancer fighting qualities. :-)

The kids finally got to open some presents! The girls opened the American Girl dolls my mom had gotten them, plus all the little dresses and accessories she'd made or purchased. Their expressions of delight were priceless. Meanwhile, the two boys were engrossed with their respective noise making vehicles. Will had a little excavator and dump truck which kept him happily occupied for the evening. I wonder how many batteries he's gone through already. The rest of us opened one other present. My dad's big present to my mom and me was a treadmill! About a week ago I started talking about how nice it would be to have one with our inclement weather, and he picked up on it. We're already enjoying it. It's great to be able to go out in the garage any time and get some exercise.

We watched "A Christmas Carol" and then Lori's family went home. On Christmas morning my parents and I started with stockings, then had breakfast after we got dressed, and then opened the presents. I couldn't have waited that long 15 or 20 years ago! Now I actually enjoy taking the morning at a leisurly pace. We all got lovely gifts and contentedly enjoyed them throughout the day, interrupted now and then by a nap or a walk on the treadmill or eating.

Now it's kind of a relief to have Christmas over and look forward to the fresh new year. My mind is spinning with plans or ideas. School starts again next Monday so I have to get ready for that. Still praying about whether I should return next year. I go back and forth. I'm sure the Lord will make the way plain in due time, but I want to know! Then I'm trying to decide about where to go on spring vacation -- New Hampshire or Israel. And I really want to go to Greece next summer, but that may be a long shot.