A Very Merry Christmas!

Christmas, and the holidays in general, were a little lighter than usual this year. Not only because of the economy but also because of time and health constraints. Lot's cards, email, smaller gifts and gift cards. Huzzah for gift cards!!

We spent this Christmas eve with Nick, Holly, Jess and Ricky over at Nick's place. Holly made a very nice dinner and put out a large spread of food and goodies that kept us snacking and sipping all night. It was wonderful. We watched some very funny stuff Nick had and the old staple of the season "A Christmas Story" during it's annual 24 hour run. Everyone exchanged gifts and talked and joked and laughed the whole time. It was wonderful for me in particular because for the first time in too many years I had nothing to do but relax and enjoy. Nick and Holly clearly went to a lot of trouble and it was complete and wonderful in every detail. Eventually Gina was worn out so I brought her home and put her to bed.
Christmas morning, for the first time in more than two decades, Gina and I slept in.
Words cannot easily express how marvelous this simple luxury seemed to me.
We got up around 9:30 and exchanged gifts with each other and had a little something to eat. She's still not feeling too great so I called and canceled my usual plans to visit my sister and her family today and we plan to spend the rest of Christmas day just relaxing.

If this all sounds boring or mundane, that is precisely the point.
For me, this is almost exactly and entirely what I wanted for Christmas this year.
Sure, we miss Trystan and other distant family members. Especially we miss Talia and Nicholas (her Husband) and the grandkids all being so far away. However we sent them some very nice gift cards, some other stuff and spoke to them on the phone. They are all having a grand time, as little children always seem to do this time of year and everyone seems healthy. To ask for more than that seems too much.

Now if we could only get Gina feeling a little better my Christmas would truly be complete.