Christmas, 2008

Well, here we are. It's Christmas morning. Not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse. Well, not exactly...Agnes is still asleep, and I'm stirring the electrons on the old hard drive to put out today's post, but I'm stirring as little as possible on this quiet and peaceful morning. Another glorious sunrise is coloring the sky outside the study window, but there's no snow on the ground...but neither is there rain or sleet, so I guess I can't complain. Who dreams of a Wet Christmas?

We're actually pretty much done with the festivities at this point...we have always done our gift exchanges on Christmas Eve in the German fashion, and yesterday was no different. The Ohio grandchildren are enjoying Christmas at Disney World, so we had a somewhat scaled-down group for the festivities. Our daughter Yasmin and her husband Vin came for dinner and to celebrate granddaughter Leya's first Christmas (second, actually, but she was too young last year to really appreciate what was going on). After an afternoon of enjoying all the snacks and goodies, Agnes served up her marvelous beef rouladen with mashed potatoes and red cabbage, after which those of us who could still move headed down to the family room to exchange gifts.

The tree was beautiful...

Horton the elephant was a big hit...


And we had to do a little rockin' around the Christmas tree with Psycho Santa (it's a long story)...


Don't you hate it when that stray piece of wrapping paper sticks to your fingers and just won't come off?

The child-sized shopping cart was a big hit, too...especially when used for rides around the room...
Leya wanted to make sure everyone else was opening things, too. She was always happy to help if things got too slow...

And all that unwrapping and playing can leave you pretty tired...

And so another Christmas is here and gone. Later on today, we'll enjoy our traditional Ham the Size of a Volkswagen with Agnes's wonderful warm potato salad, and spend the rest of the day doing what we enjoy doing most at this time of year...absolutely nothing.

And from our house to yours, Agnes and I wish you the very safest and happiest of holidays.

Merry Christmas! More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo