Wow! I made it through another Christmas! The children's church skit is done. The special dinners have all been cooked. The gifts have been purchased, wrapped, delivered, opened and used..or returned.
It was a good Christmas for me. I wish I could say that about all the members of my family, but unfortunately, some of them got ill for Christmas Eve. It is possible that my daughter who is visiting from CA might have still been contagious from her bout with something the day before she arrived. But maybe not, since there had been no symptoms for over 18 hours, and only some family members who were around her succumbed to illness. No matter. Christmas is not a time to blame others. But I do feel so badly that they had to cancel the plans they had with other family. We had celebrated with them on Sunday, so at least we all got to be together then. Grandma Peggy came from CA to visit and so we had a great time. Hunky and Hansome were in the church skit and we all got to see them stare at the audience. (It was their first stage appearance!) It was great!
My husband surprised me with a special gift. I have a doll collection. About two months (or more) ago we were out yard sale-ing and I saw a beautiful doll but the sellers were asking more than I wanted to pay. I tried to talk them down, but was only partially successful and decided I could not justify spending the bucks. I did not know it, but my husband went back and got the doll and hid it until Christmas. What a thoughtful man!
This year, Santa arrived in a younger version (a co-worker of my husband's) and came to our house. After dinner we opened presents and went to church for a candlelight service and then to the downtown plaza of our town, Glendale. Every year the City decorates the park with thousands of lights on trees and buildings, etc. and has horse-drawn carriages, musicians, entertainment, food, etc. throughout the evenings during the Holidays. Last year we handed out candy canes to all the people and wished them a merry Christmas. This year we forgot the candy! But, someone from church left an ice chest full of real snow on my daughter's van, so we had a community snowball fight instead. Lots of fun! Mr. Boo and Baby Girl rode quietly in a double stroller fascinated by all the lights and people!
Christmas day brought a surprise for my visiting daughter...her husband, a first year intern, got off working at his hospital earlier than expected and flew out to meet her. It was fun pulling off that surprise!
I hope you all had a great Christmas. Remember to love and cherish everyone who means something to you...God bless...prayers and wishes for a prosporous and happy 2009!