The Day After

We went to dinner yesterday and ate soooooo much turkey and stuff!  I had two pieces of pie!  How can one choose between pumpkin and pecan pie?  I swore that I will never eat again, but, that's silly, isn't it?  But I just know I gained 5 lbs. overnight.

Today is the day!  I will stay as far away from any shopping mall as I can.  In fact, I think I may sit in front of my computer until my Christmas shopping is done.  Searching websites for bargains and free shipping is much nicer than those crazy people that like to cram themselves into overfilled shopping areas, looking for those perfect gifts.  Yes, I give and receive gifts for Christmas.  But the most meaningful are the ones given from the heart.  Hubby likes to treat me to a night out so I don't have to cook.  That's nice.  My daughter knows I particularly like music boxes and ballerinas, so I can pretty much depend on getting one from her every year.  My collection grows!  My grandsons will probably make me something.  Last year I got a "drawing" from my then 3 year old gson.  It was nothing more than scribble, but it stayed on my fridge for a looooonnnng time. 

My favorite gift is simply our family gathering.  It is traditional that we all get together on Christmas Eve, not Christmas, and Santa comes sometime after dinner.  When we were kids, my dad would play the piano and we would all sing Christmas songs and Round and Round the Mulberry Bush the Monkey Chased the Weasel (?  go figure).  Then around 7:30 pm he would quietly disappear and we would hear "ho ho ho" and we would all run to my parents bedroom (we didn't have a chimney!) to see what santa had brought.  My brother took over that job when we were all grown with children of our own.  Now, my family is huge and spread out all over the country.  It's ok, tho.  My daughter, son-in-law, and my gsons will be here, and that makes me happy.

So, here's to the Christmas Season, and may we all survive it!