Shifting Gears

…and to all a “Good Night!”  Christmas Day is winding down – a day filled with family, fun and food.  Somehow Burl and I managed to sleep until 7:30 this morning - probably because the tree and excited grandkids were at the other end of the house.  By time we stumbled out of bed, Alex was playing baseball on his Wii and Julia was jumping on her trampoline while Lydia walked around holding her blankie trying to figure out what all the fuss was about!

Shortly after 8 the rest of the crew showed up so we let the kids start opening gifts while the adults drank coffee and mimosas, grazed on coffee cake and fruit and tried to keep the chaos to a manageable level.  By time the adults finished gifts it was after noon, the champagne bottles were empty and several of us were definitely ready for a walk in the beautiful outdoors – sunny and 50 is pretty hard to beat around here on Christmas Day!

Through group effort we finally sat down to an eclectic meal around 4:00 – deep-fried turkey, lasagna, cheesy potatoes (they rocked!), dressing and gravy, the green bean casserole Burl can’t do without and a yummy lettuce salad complete with Ralph’s homemade dressing.  Except for the cheesy potatoes, we have plenty of leftovers so fixing meals won’t be a problem around here for a few days!

Stacey and her family have now gone to spend time with Len’s parents and with everyone else asleep, the house seems unusually silent – I think even Mulligan is happy to have a bit more calm and not be relegated to the backyard since he’s a bit frisky for the little ones.

As always, Santa was very good to me – more than I feel I deserve but I appreciate my gifts so much.  My favorite gift I gave this year was a needlepoint I made for Tammy.  She had found an old needlepoint pattern book at a flea market earlier this year and bought it for me because it was the same book I had in the 70’s.  When she gave it to me she told me which patterns she wanted if I ever decided to needlepoint again – all of them patterns I had made for her grandmothers years ago.  We have no idea what happened to the pillows after they died but I was thrilled to see the book and remember the joy I had the first time I needlepointed them.  So – thanks to eBay, I got the needlepoint canvas and yarns I needed and I made her first choice.  The look on her face when she opened it let me know she appreciated my efforts and as I told her, I realized how much I love doing needlepoint.  Since Tammy is so talented and creative I really enjoy making something for her that I know she can’t do herself (actually she could if she tried but it’s not her thing).    You know the true meaning of Christmas when you’re more excited about the gifts you give than the ones you get and that’s how I felt today. 

Guess I’d better get some sleep – only 365 shopping days until Christmas 2008 – good thing it’s leap year and we get an extra day!