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Now that the dust is settling . . .

We had a lovely, chaotic, peaceful, decadent, thoroughly exhausting Christmas, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Oh the stories I could tell . . . but I will refrain.

Santa was certainly good to us this year, but most of all I am thankful for good health and family togetherness. All 22 members of my husband’s family, ages 6 to 76, were present and accounted for at our home yesterday. What a tremendous blessing! I don’t know how many families can say that these days.

I’m still recovering, however, as you well know, I can’t leave the blog alone for long, so I thought I’d give a little Christmas Wrap-Up in Pictures!

We tried desperately to get a good picture of the kids on Christmas Eve, but this was the best shot of them all. How pathetic is that?

And there’s this. She lost her third tooth last week.

Don’t ask about the purple necklace. It wasn’t a hill I was willing to die on.

Christmas morning dawned bright and early — for me, anyway. I was up at least an hour before anyone else. It was DIVINE.

I puttered. I made coffee. I took pictures of all my christmas decorations. I started mixing up the batter for the gluten-free cinnamon buns I would make later in the morning. I puttered some more. Finally everyone was awake and ready to come downstairs.

They wasted no time ripping into their “Santa gifts” and stockings.

We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, in which I served Donielle’s cinnamon buns and Kelly’s quick quiche cups — DELISH.

Then it was off to church where we celebrated the Lord’s Day AND Christmas Day. I always think those years where Christmas falls on a Sunday are particularly special, even though they do put a bit of a kink in our traditional Christmas Day schedule. It worked out just fine, though, because we weren’t planning Christmas dinner till closer to 6:00, so we had plenty of time to come home, grab a snack, and open presents before it was time to start dinner prep.

I racked up the running gear this year.

I also got a gorgeous silver bracelet and perfume I’ve been wanting. Sadly, there are no pictures. Boo.

The kids were delighted with their loot. And I surprised my husband (or maybe he wasn’t so surprised as much as he was pleased!) with a 12-string acoustic guitar he’d been wanting. We had a festive dinner and a great visit with family before all falling into bed in a food coma.

Yesterday was all about the family gathering, complete with brunch and dogs and veggie bacon and a rousing Yankee Swap. (Don’t ask.)

And today we’re in recovery mode.

So. How about YOU!? How was your Christmas? I hope it was full of love and laughter (and pork bacon!)

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14 Responses

  1. It looked like Toys R Us threw up in my living! We had a great Christmas. So glad everyone from your family was able to get together. Precious memories in the making right there. Hope you have a great week!

  2. I just discovered your blog. I am already addicted. It is so informative and creative. I am a Philly suburb mom, so I was particularly excited when I saw you were from the area. It is always nice to be able to relate to the author in that way.

    How do you manage all of the projects? And so successfully? You are an inspiration, and a muse to help me keep growing. I look forward to reading all your new posts in 2012. Keep up the great work and have a happy and blessed New Year.

    1. Why thank you, but I’m not sure I deserve all those accolades. LOL!! I actually do NOT manage all of my projects well and I am re-evaluating my commitments at the moment and hoping to get more focused during the new year!!

  3. I’ve been a long time reader, but never comment, and my new Year’s resolution is to start commenting on other blogs!!! Thanks for sharing your Christmas pics, looks like your family had a great day…..we had one of the best Christmas’ ever this year, it was just so fun! And YES we enjoyed bacon this year…..bacon wrapped water chestnuts…yummmmmmm!!!

  4. Tell us all about your running gear (and your current running routine). You’ve piqued my interest.

    As for me, I’m almost 26weeks pregnant and -ug – feeling gigantic. I actually am looking forward to pulling out my running shoes again after the baby is born in early April.

    1. I bet you are!!!! I did not enjoy pregnancy AT ALL.

      It is getting cold here so I needed gloves, running tights, under armor, and a hat. My mom and Paul each got me an arm band to hold my iPod and a sports watch to time my miles and stuff. I guess they read that post I wrote about my 5K experience and my lack of proper gear! LOL. Paul also got me a sweatshirt I really love – it’s bright and big but not frumpy dump. It was great over an under amour shirt yesterday for a cold run.

      I’m also working out with weights and TRX at the YMCA so I have been getting some new duds so I don’t feel like a total frump when I’m there.

  5. That looks like a really fun Christmas. I love that you have such a large family gathering. What fun! We celebrated with my parents in town. The kids loved having Grammie and Pop to celebrate with. I was too late to the store and missed out on the hams so we had a roast which turned out pretty good. I did decide that we need to come up with a couple of really good family traditions.

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