The most wonderful time of the year...

Christmas Day is behind us, and it is without even a twinge of wistfulness that I bid it farewell. We enjoyed it, all of it: Christmas Eve at my moms with tons of cousins and laughter and the hot roast beef on hard rolls of my childhood. Followed by a less cherished, but equally steadfast tradition of wrapping presents from Santa long after midnight. A bleary eyed Christmas morning of five minutes of unwrapping the same gifts and two hours of taking them out of their packaging and assembling them. Brunch, utilizing our new waffle maker, and then a tradition I implemented last year of simultaneous mommy & baby Christmas naps. Lastly, over to The Man's family gathering that evening, where all the children entertained us by singing their favorite Christmas Carols. Because my children and their cousins come from generations of hams performers. There's not a shy one in the bunch. It was like Norman Rockwell meets the karaoke Bar.

Just Priceless.

Overall I would say it was one of our better years, judging just by it's failure to produce any truly memorable events. We are known for ruining holidays with illnesses in our home. We have had pinkeye on Christmas morning, head lice on New Years Eve, and a plethora of other viruses that have caused tears and disappointments over the years. But this year we were all healthy and well behaved. Even Clara was an angel when we put her to bed at 10PM two nights in a row.

But today, this week starting with December 26th, truly is my favorite time of the year. When the planning and preparing is over and the family is home together. The children are still giddy with new toys and leftover goodies and the days go by lazily and unplanned. We go to the movies and play board games. We invite friends over and sleep in late (Someone please tell Ben he is supposed to sleep in late!). Today the children and I stayed in our new pajamas the entire day, sending The Man out at one point for batteries to feed our new toy frenzy.

And even now, as I sit writing this I do it to the soundtrack of my little boy and my husband crashing cars together. There is nothing like listening to your three year old squeal "Yeah baby! I smashed you up!" to his father to bring on the post Christmas warm fuzzies.

And so it is with a genuine light heart, at last, that I wish you all - Zipity Do Dah, pass the wine & throw another log on the fire, because Christmas is over until next year - Holiday blessings.

Here's a family snapshot from yesterday at The Man's family gathering. Brandon isn't in the shot because he was at his mothers. I am sure he was enjoying himself, but his cousins were all there and we missed him greatly. Our family just doesn't seem complete without him.

Oh and someone asked me why Ben was pouting. It's because he is three. And he didn't get his way about something so trivial I can't even remember it. And because he's three. Did I mention that?