No traveling hundreds of miles to celebrate with family...(wiping a tear away as she types).
We stayed home because of this...
Our kitchen renovation finally began on December 10th. That's a whole 'nother blog post or two or five. Suffice it to say we needed to stay close to home. Stuff had to be attended to.
But before the renovation started a couple of other great Christmas joys occurred. I'm sure you are dying to know what those are, right? Well, of course there was the Clinton Christmas Parade.
And the second joy is seeing dear friends. My and Patrick's college friends gathered for the 25th year in a row to celebrate "Friends' Christmas". Twenty five years does not seem possible. I am still a Spring Chicken...in some circles. Here we are posing...we love to pose.
Strike a pose...
We rented a cabin in Brown County. The same one we rented for year 20. Not much has changed except we are a tad more creakier and a bit wrinkly. Except for me...I am still a Spring Chicken.
Sadly, Patrick didn't join us. Logistics were not on his side and he was gracious to be Daddy to the kids while I got to laugh at the same jokes, dance to the same tunes and kiss on the same people. So I knew that he had to be included. That's when I remembered Flat Stanley. I needed a Flat Patrick. He was coming to Friends' Christmas!
Now if you look closely in the pictures above he is in every one of them. In fact he was all over Nashville. That guy really gets around. Baby Jesus never looked better. If you want to see the "Flat Patrick Series head on over to my Flickr account.
When I got back home we decorated the tree. Just by looking at the beautiful Christmas tree you'd think decorating was a blessed memorable event. Memorable... yes. Blessed...no. Nothing says Merry Christmas like fighting kids and a screaming mom. Next year I'll decorate the tree with a spiked mug of hot cocoa with Ollie gazing at the lights and my favorite Christmas tunes playing in the background...ahhhh.
Winter break in Clinton is not complete with trips to Sonic. Especially when our Pittsburgh friends come to visit. I'm sure Martha is jealous about right now.
The yearly gingerbread house was made and eaten.
And then finally Santa arrived...
This was Gavin's first year of being in on the magic. I'm pretty sure there was some grieving going on in that stinky middle school boy's heart. But he didn't let the "cat out of the bag" for Anna. That was our little Christmas miracle.
Christmas morning was full of joy...
There was Christmas Ball Frenzy thanks to Gramma Cece.
And how do you ring in 2013 when you have no kitchen to cook in? Fondue, of course.
It was a sweet quiet holiday season. Next year you all are invited to come spend Christmas with us.
