For somebody who did nothing but eat and lounge around in her long johns yesterday, I am remarkably exhausted! What about you?
But, oh, what a splendid Christmas it was!
On Christmas Eve morn we slept in, bundled up, stocked up on Sweetarts, Buncha Crunch, and Junior Mints, and treated ourselves to a glorious early afternoon matinée showing of Disney’s Frozen at the movie theatre. And it was wonderful! It was funny and beautiful and magical and I adored pretty much every single one of Elsa and Anna’s dresses and am wondering when they’re going to make them in my size, and Ted and I both loved the story and score, and I’d bet you any amount of money it’ll (naturally) be a Disney on Ice show in a matter of mere months and that it will also make its way from screen to stage within the next year or so. It’s a great movie for kids and adults alike, and my recommendation is – go see it this week! It’s a classic in the making.
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And it wasn’t just ‘frozen’ at the movie theatre either. It snowed big fluffy snowflakes all day on Christmas Eve, so we lucked out and got our beautiful White Christmas after all! Could you hear Ted celebrating down in Texas?
After the movie we stopped back home to change into our Christmas finery for church, attended a lovely and peaceful 6 p.m. Christmas Eve mass, drove around Greece and Irondequoit for an hour or so looking at local homes with big, bright, and beautiful Christmas light displays, picked up Chinese takeout, baked a batch homemade chocolate, sea salt, and caramel stuffed snickerdoodle cookies (and milk) “for Santa”, snuggled back into our PJs and blankets to watch the classic claymation Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer movie, read aloud from ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, The Christmas Wish, and The Polar Express, spent some time with our prized nativity, and then settled down for a long winter’s nap. A perfect Christmas Eve!
On Christmas morning we awoke around 9:30 to discover that Santa, who probably looks an awful lot like Ted, had come and hung candy canes on our tree during the night! But rumbling bellies must be tended to and the presents weren’t going anywhere, so we worked side-by-side in the kitchen to cook up some bean and cheese and sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast tacos, a pan of warm gooey cinnamon rolls, and a kettle of Stash’s Christmas Morning tea. A Christmas morn Tex-Mex breakfast of champions!
I tossed a pot of ‘one-pot instant Christmas’ (whole cloves, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, cranberries, orange slice, lemon slice, and water) on the stove to boil then simmer for a few hours to make our home smell all wonderful and Christmasy while we opened cards and presents beneath the tree, sweet and thoughtful tokens of love from those for whom we care so deeply.
The rest of the day we stayed comfortably parked in our pajamas, listened to our favorite playlist of Christmas hymns on repeat, played games on the floor in front of the tree, downed as many candy canes, sweet goodies, mugs of hot cocoa, and leftover Chinese takeout as our stomachs could hold, enjoyed the lights and piney goodness of our beautiful tree, watched the Henry Winkler version of An American Christmas Carol, and called and FaceTime’d with our wonderful and dear families (and my cat! I got to see my sweet little Sancho boy, who gave not two licks that I was trying to FaceTime with him. Cats.)
And that was our Christmas.
Merry and bright. Peaceful and joyful. And full of gratitude and family and food and laughter and love.
We hope yours was too.
