A Very Merry Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas. I’m amazed at how much more I’ve enjoyed this holiday season since I’ve stopped being “the cake lady”. I can barely remember anything about last year’s Christmas celebrations with the family. All memories of that season concern cake orders, craft bazaars, long sleepless nights, and lots of spirit-crushing stress…

This year has been miraculously different! And for that, we are all grateful!

Lots of things evolved throughout this year to culminate in a very merry Christmas at our house. Some of those included Tess’s return from schooling out-of-state and my returning to the full-time workplace after nearly a year of unemployment/self-employment. These things contributed to more quality family time and additional funds in our household budget.

God works in mysterious ways. And, we are thankful that He continues to bless us as we stumble through our daily lives.

We attended Christmas Eve service and went out for our traditional Chinese food on the 24th. Christmas morning began around 7am. The pitter patter of Alicia’s little feet made their way downstairs to the living room, which had been transformed overnight to a gift explosion.

Donald arrived at about that time, having delivered the Sunday paper to his route in the hours just prior to that.

Alicia came back to our bedroom repeatedly, all excited with reports of Santa’s gifts. We finally gave in and rolled out of bed. I made a batch of monkey bread. We opened our stockings and then dove into the gift pile.

Alicia received lots of wonderful things from Santa and others. Her main gifts which she had requested from the big guy were a scooter and the American Girl doll, Molly. Her stuffed kitty, Rosabelle, also received gifts from Santa. Alicia was really pleased about that. The rest of us received more functional gifts like clothing and consumables.

After unwrapping the gifts (which lasted a record 2.5 hours), we spent a leisurely day watching movies, playing games, and snoozing. We had a Christmas turkey dinner with some of our favorites, sweet potato casserole, Hawaiian sweet bread, and green bean casserole.

The day has been deliciously stress-free. A truly merry Christmas….