Christmas Blessings

On Christmas Eve, no matter where we are, my family and I attend a midnight candlelight service. This year we were at home, so we attended our own parish, Trinity Life Church. It's always a really special feeling, driving home from church past midnight, with the quiet streets and the Christmas lights still on in the neighborhoods as each family waits...

Then on Christmas morning the excitement builds as the family begins to stir, including the puppies, Chloe and Max, who are always anxious to get us up early.

This is my family: our son, Grady; myself; my husband, David, holding Chloe; and our daughter, Olivia, holding Max.  It seems Mom is the only one who gets dressed early~the others are anxious to get right into the festivities!

After we open the stockings, we go into the living room to sit by the tree and open gifts. Max, the baby, was a little confused by the goings-on so he retreated to Mom's lap where he could be extra comfy in Dad's new sofa blanket and Mom's new scarf.

After the gifts are opened we adjourn to the kitchen to cook up something special for brunch. This year it was French toast, bacon and scrambled eggs.

Our afternoon was spent enjoying each other and our new gifts, especially Dad's new camera. At one point I looked over at my husband and he was asleep on the recliner, with his new camera on his chest and the manual open to the last page he was reading...it was really cute. My family really enjoys cameras, computers, and phones. Any new technology holds a fascination for all of us. I guess that's probably true for just about every family in America!

For early dinner, Liv and Grady made cheese fondue with raw veggies, French bread and wine, and chocolate fondue with fruit and marshmallows. What a wonderful day we had!

On the day after Christmas we had some friends over to celebrate with a potluck dinner: appetizers, martinis and wine, and a delicious ham with all the trimmings. We raised our glasses in a toast to 2009~may it be a better year, yes, a wonderful year, for all!