*SIGH*

My tree is undecorated as is all of my house. The Christmas decor is boxed up and ready for the attic. I usually try to wait for Epiphany but the last couple of years I have just been done with having a tree...mostly the watering. This year I had purchased an awesome tree waterer thingy. Unfortunately, I misplaced it until Christmas Eve. It WAS awesomely fabulous. I will enjoy it next year. 'Cause this year, Christmas sneaked up, bit me on the butt and was promptly over. And for that, the tree came down quickly. Well, actually, the decorations came down. The tree is still standing until Erik and I have matching energy bursts to get it out of the house.

We did get snow flurries for Christmas this year and that was totally awesome. We had wonderful visits with both sides of both sides of the family. My little cousin (the one battling cancer) was well enough for Christmas festivities to be at his house-truly a gift from God. However, you could tell he did not feel well and the look on his face most of the day will propel me to continue to pray for him and his family. Remission is my prayer...lifelong remission. (Wayd is his name if you will pray it with me.)

Erik's grandma made me laugh so hard at one point that I lost my breath, coughed uncontrollably and did not get it back easily. The statement was, "She may be CUTE but she's NOT pretty!" It was just so unexpected. I don't know why. Grandma has never been one to hold back. Upon meeting me, she cackled, looked me right in the eye and said, "OH! You're a BIG girl!" I loved her instantly. A fellow human lacking a filter. It has helped me to develop one.

On the other side of Erik's side of the family, we had Tennesseans and Floridians join us at his parent's house and it was so much fun. So many many young children! AND that is what makes it so much fun. They played and played and played. Barbie is always the most popular girl toy. Other toys just don't come close. And the boys, they played with everything and wrestled. Boys just like wrestling. And pestering girls. Lilly is so fun to pester. My other two just enjoyed sitting around and being told how much they had grown and how pretty they are. Torture, you could tell it was killing them. So much so that they stayed in place to receive the pronouncements. They also let the littler kids climb on them and generally made us proud of the young ladies they are becoming.

My sides of the family were combined. My parents who have been divorced for about 33 years now unite for holidays. It is both bizarre and comfortable. It is also handy because it means one less festivity to plan. (Might I add that the dropped festivity was not the most festive festivity either since my Dad did not ever put up a tree and has a low tolerance for kid noise and festivating. ) We had lots of good food and a pretty good game of "Dirty Santa". We played Dirty Santa on Erik's side of the family too. However, it did not hold a candle to the Dirty Santa game that produced the most lovely sailboat clock ever. It makes noises and lights up. I decided to take it out of the box and set it up to decorate our home. It is hilarious. So delightfully tacky. It will remind me not to take life too serious and remind my hubby to ALWAYS steal during the Dirty Santa games. GO with what you KNOW-never trust those wrapped presents no matter how pretty. Inside might lurk a sailboat clock.

My children loved all of their presents and ended up with a bit of Christmas cash as well. We tried to shop a bit yesterday whilst doing some wrong size returns but they decided it would be more fun to fight while mom was in the bathroom forcing an early return home. There was much pouting in the land but I predict the next mall visit will not be taken for granted. However, they had already seen several of their homeschool friends and bought a few things, so all was not lost...but still, the point was made! I just don't have tolerance for the bickering.

Today we have been chillin' mostly. Lots of good TV movies and I finally got around to watching UP! We got it from our cousins Skip and Dena and I LOVE it. It is one of my new favorites and I am happy to own it. "I was hiding under the porch because I LOVE you." My goodness, I love my kitty cats, but I am a dog person to the core. This movie had me long before "SQUIRREL!" though! It's a good 'un.

I hope your holiday celebrations were a delight. This is a tough time of year for many, and if you are among those who have painful holidays, I hope you were blessed in some way. Jesus is the reason for this season and He promises to work out every bad thing for Good for those that love Him and allow it.

A fresh new year is just around the corner and I am very excited to close this one out and get a brand spankin' new one.