Earl and I are safely back at home after a day of traveling to visit the family for the Christmas holiday. It has been a wonderful day for the both of us.
This morning we were up at 8 a.m. and in front of the Christmas tree at 8:01 a.m. Earl quickly poured the mandatory glass of orange juice and then we opened our gifts from Santa and to each other. As I type, Earl is playing Texas Hold ‘Em on our new Xbox 360 that Santa brought us. I just know he’ll be ripping up Xbox Live by the end of the week. I navigated our way to my father’s house using the new GPS receiver that was under the tree this morning. We plan on Geocaching starting in the spring and the GPS receiver will definitely aid in the hunt.
We then headed up to my dad’s house, where we had a wonderful brunch (crepes and champagne-yummy!) with my dad and stepmom and my stepbrother and his girlfriend. My sister and her boyfriend joined in the fun via webcam from Russia. It was a picture perfect Christmas afternoon, complete with two cats sleeping in their little cat beds under the Christmas tree. My dad handcrafted a spice rack for our kitchen as our Christmas gift.
From there we headed to my sister’s American apartment (she’s so worldly) where my mother hosted Christmas dinner. It was delicious and had all the wonderful elements of a dinner only my Mom can put on; there was way too much food, a lot of love put into the creation of the meal and a kitchen that looked like Yucca Flats after the blast. Surprisingly, there was not a bowl of popcorn to be found. We exchanged more gifts, shared stories and conversation with family and friends and laughed and laughed.
While talking on the way home, Earl and I both agreed that we were “feeling” the holidays because we had such a wonderful time with our families, friends and with each other. There wasn’t a flake of snow to be found, but it definitely felt like Christmas. We are truly blessed by the Universe.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!
