And so it was Christmas!

And a lovely one it was. It started leisurely, with the final wrapping of gifts while Mom made the monkey-bread. A short stroll in the backyard to say hi and leave chocolate and nuts for the squirrel chattering in the tree. (It must not have been our regular squirrel, he didn't come when he smelled the chocolate.) Back inside to peel potatoes, and to be delighfully surprised when 2nd niece and her boyfriend were the first to show up. (We had heard they weren't coming.) BooBoo and girls arrived next, followed by Crits and friend, then sister and her boys, then sister-in-law with her mother and nephew 1. The pile under the tree grew and mounded and then . . . was gone in a flash! Great gifts from all. Special gift this year: an ornament from Ludington, that Ruby had bought and saved for me back on our family vacation.

Then on to the ham dinner (sorry, we only do turkey at Thanksgiving) with Auntie N. joining us. To gather everyone for the meal, the call goes out: "thumbs up!" Supposedly the last person with thumbs up has to say the blessing, but we usually say a group grace, so it's more an attention getter. A special ending was added to the prayer this year. Niece #1's husband is heading to Baghdad next week. Last year my brothers insulated the garage for family events, and it was a toasty 72 degrees for the meal.

Then back into the house for The Night Before Christmas Game and a few carols. Then, and this made me happy, as I've been too dragged out for games this holiday season, we had a great game of Apples to Apples.

Now we're slowly cleaning up, winding down.

And so it was Christmas.