The Christmas week

 I do not know about the rest of you, but I had a wonderful Christmas week.  I finally finished decorating the house.  I love doing it and really took my time this year.  I mean, really took my time with Christmas this year.  I was up until 1:00 a.m. Monday night/Tuesday morning finishing things up.  And I still managed to run errands before work on Tuesday.  All the gifts were wrapped; all of the cards were in the mail and the house looked sentimental and special to me. 

I got to spend time with friends that I love and enjoy their company.  I spent a few days with Dad, June, Bill, Heidi and the girls at Dad's house and it was absolutely lovely. I had to work until 4 on Christmas Eve, which was fine.  It was very slow that day and everyone was full of the holiday spirit so that made the day go by quickly.  I spent that evening here in Greensboro.  Jason's family and several friends came over for dinner and gifts.  Jason fixed his traditional German Christmas Eve dinner of German hot dogs, potato salad and German rolls. It was so good! And we set up a huge spread beforehand of appetizers that made for a very pretty buffet.  Our gift exchange took a few hours as there were 7 of us and we each take turns, but it was a lot of fun. We all had a grand time and it was so nice to spend the evening with these good people.

Christmas Day, I drove to Angier that morning. I got off to a late start, I left at 8:45 and Dad was getting worried about me.  Anyway, I made it safely and Heidi and I got to cooking our Christmas meal. Turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, yeast rolls, winter fruit salad and butter pecan cake. We had so much food over the next two days and all of it was delicious.  My cheese ball did not turn out as good as I'd hoped but oh well.  I'll still eat it LOL We had another lovely gift exchange and did our stockings.  It was just a fun afternoon.  We spent Friday just being with each other and enjoying each other's company.  What Christmas is truly about.  Even though Angier is not my hometown, it is now my home because that is where Dad and June are.  And there is just something about going home to make the holidays all that more special.  I realize how lucky I am because not everyone has this privilege. I am truly blessed.

Christmas always inspires me towards the kind of daily life I want for the upcoming year.  I am ready to fill my life with friends and loved ones in 2026.  Life is too short not to.