Christmas Past

Hi!

Welcome Back.

Oh wait! That's what you're supposed to say to me. Cuz I'm the one that took Yet Another Blog Vacation. But it was Christmas, after all. I mean it's not like I just disappeared without warning, ....into thin air, for no apparent reason (....like the last couple of times.)

Anyway- Let's not spoil our reunion by reliving past failures. I do plenty of that without you.

I had a great Christmas.

You're sweet to ask :)

That said, even though it was not "my year" to have the older children home, we made do with "just" the 10 of us here, and tried hard not to think of the missing son and married daughters and the adorable GrandChildren with their anticipatory holiday faces, their squeals of delight at their gifts, and their little sticky cinnamon bun fingers.

I hardly gave them a thought. (lie:lie)

Oh, and we also sorely missed our wonderful sons-in-law, without which we would have no grandchildren to pine over.

We had a quiet, calm celebration. It was fulfilling - well, at least the last syllable of that word, and not overly materialistic (if you don't count the Wii.)

After opening presents - which does not take long when you only give your children one Wii gift - we had a peaceful morning, followed by a scrumptillyicious mid-afternoon lunch of prime rib, mashed potatoes, green peas and pearl onions and assorted desserts. The celebrating continued with a late-afternoon kick-ball game with two families from our church. Kickball is the perfect game when the participants are from a wide age span (9-60.) We've done this several times in the past and it is always a fun way to assuage the guilt from a 5,000 calorie meal, while making memories at the same time.

And speaking of memories, there were moments during the game when I truly felt 13 again.

Especially when I was the Very Last Person chosen for either team - even though my own (ex)beloved 10year old son was one of the Captains.

Jr. High, I don't miss ya a bit!

I hope to get my son (the one who gets paid the big bucks to photograph weddings) to send me the pictures he took Christmas Day so I can share them with you. I especially want you to see My Huge Assymetrical Christmas Tree, the Perfect Huge Tree that we found for our First Christmas in this ginormous living room. The living room that seems designed with a Christmas Tree in mind.

No kidding. The first time my husband and I saw the house, I walked into the living room and said, "THIS is the ideal place for a large family Christmas celebration." (That wasn't exactly the #1 Must-Have in our home search - it was more like the Bonus Point.) The room is about 20 x 40 with an electrical outlet in the center of the room......for all those twinkling tree lights! (for new readers with lots of spare time, click here to read the saga of last year's tree and non-twinkling lights.)

In fact, if there's any doubt about just how Perfect this Huge Christmas Tree was, here's proof: I left it up all the way until the Saturday after Christmas! Heretofore unheard of in the life of Mrs. Baker's Dozen Debbie.

Oh....What? You figured out that the Saturday after Christmas was only the 27th? Silly me! I almost forgot I have Whiz-Kid Blog readers. I really can't get anything past you, can I?

Well, the 27th is still a full 24 hours later than the 26th (my usual day for taking down every shred of Christmas decorations.)

I wish Christmas was not so near the end of the year, but since it is, I participate whole-heartedly and fully for 25 entire days, then .... Bam! - It's over.

On to New beginnings, Fresh starts, Clean countertops, Stored and Bubble-Wrapped decorations, and Empty cookie jars. On 12/26 all that leftover sugar is either eaten or thrown out. We end the day with Benadryl all around (to counteract the sugar-high), and the 27th is "the first day of the rest of our lives."

And speaking of new beginnings, check this out if you'd like a small assignment for each week day of the new year. With Prizes for completion!




P.S. Pictures of the tree to come. I promise. In the mean time, here's the picture we're using in our Old Year's letter (send me your address if you'd like a snail mail copy of the low-down on all 13 of us), as well as a few that are just too durn cute not to show off :)