Christmas and the New Year - 2015

I haven't been feeling well these past few years, so things seem to go slower and at times, not get finished. This year our Christmas tree was so late that it hardly beat Santa!  That can't happen again, I told myself.  My parents would always have the tree up after Thanksgiving, so we had a month of lights, watering the tree, presents, chocolates, baking and that special magic that always filled the air in December. Only as a kid I don't ever remember not having snow.

Along with being late, I think our tree was chosen as a Charlie Brown mercy tree!  It was small, which allowed us to put it up on a table this year.  That was nice, as our condo can be quite crowded at times, but it also had another little imperfection, a slight lean.  Did I say slight?  I meant to say, isosceles triangle type lean!  It was fine when one looked at it head on, but from the side it looked like King Kong had sat on the top of it, causing it to lean further and further down, coming only partially back up when the gorilla finally touched the ground!

I love cooking, baking, shopping, wrapping presents and having family and friends over to rekindle the love that I always felt as a kid.  Even though there was only the three of us, mom, dad and myself, we made so many beautiful memories, including many others that we loved. I truly love sharing those traditions with my own family now that my parents are both gone.

The fun continued the next three days with a trip to my in-laws and visiting with my husbands family.  I love watching the cousins play! Reminds me of the hundreds of cousins that I used to play with, especually during the holidays.
Then I smile, but there's still no snow.