Happy Merry Everything!

I am enveloped in the peace and quiet of Christmas morning -- and loving it. Whereas when the kids were young, this morning was filled with excitement and activity (and I loved that too), these days Christmas morning tends to be quiet and relaxed. I anticipate that, after last night, everyone will sleep in fairly late. Except me; I can never sleep in. Sometimes it's a curse!

We arrived home in the early evening of the 22nd, exhausted after 24 hours of travel (we might as well have gone to Europe!) and -- in my case -- food poisoned! Turns out I had eaten some bad cream cheese at Starbuck's and I spent the night whining and writhing on the floor in the bathroom. It was a MOST unpleasant experience!

I had no choice but to bounce back quickly though because we had ONE day to prepare for Christmas -- which we celebrate on the 24th. Those preparations included storm-related tasks, like removing rotten food from the fridge and freezer. (Amazingly, most of it was still good!) We battled crowds to do some very-last-minute shopping and to buy a tree, then came home and started decorating! It's the smallest tree we've ever had in this house because we inherited the piano this year, but I think it actually looks good -- and the cats love it!

Eva, our AFS exchange student from Koeln joined us to make some last-minute cookies and for our traditional German Christmas Eve "bescherung," and we all had a wonderful time, with much laughter, good food (Mom's traditional Bavarian fare) and great company.