Merry Christmas!

And it truly was a Merry Christmas.

We were all able to gather at my parent's home in Decatur -- G and me, E, N, K, and M.  Even my brother and his wife came for brunch this morning.  It was nice to see them again so soon as we just saw them at Thanksgiving and we normally don't see them at both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

We went to the 5:00 service for Christmas Eve.  My aunt and uncle met us there and afterward they came back to my parent's house for dinner.  We had our traditional Christmas Eve lasagna.  : )

Also at church, we saw my cousin, his wife, and their children.  W is the best little boy ever and his sister, S, is getting so big!  She is almost 19 months old and a beautiful little girl; she looked especially precious in her dark green velvet dress with white "fur" trim on the long sleeves and all around the hem of her full skirt.  We were even able to persuade her to twirl for us.  : )

Christmas afternoon we walked down the street and around the corner to visit with Great-Aunt R.  Everyone in our family will tell you that she is a pistol, and Christmas Day was no exception.  She was by turns, feisty and a little sad.  We talked about her husband, Uncle G, and that made her a little teary.  But in spite of the memories of loss, I know she was glad that we came to see her.  As she always says, "There's them that live right here in town that never come to see me."       

Over the course of the weekend we ate way too much food -- blackberry cobbler, sugar cookies, biscuits and gravy, ham, hash brown casserole, cinnamon rolls, bacon, and noodle kugel.  We also dranks lots and lots of coffee and more than a little bit of wine on Christmas eve.

I am well aware that these family times are precious and I don't take them for granted.  Who knows if we will all be together next year to celebrate Christmas.  This time next year E and N might be living in Seattle or Salem, VA or Springfield, MO.  Only the Lord knows where we will all be and what we will be doing.

But this year we were blessed to be in Decatur and it was a very, merry Christmas!