I just can't hold it in...I REALLY love Christmas.

Oh, do I ever. It truly is my favourite holiday of all time ever in my history of holidays that I do celebrate.Of course as a kid you are anxiety ridden over thoughts of what is going to be under the tree. I will confess to enjoying Christmas for the presents...we were pretty spoiled with gifts I have to admit. There always were a lot of presents under the tree for our family. And every year there was that one "special" gift that you had wished and waited for. For some reason...the one gift that stands out the most to me now is my Cabbage Patch Doll I got in grade 5.Oh man...that was a great night. (we opened up presents on Christmas Eve after church service...traditional German Christmas.) I remember seeing 2 of those funny shaped I know exactly what's in that box, box!! One was addressed to me, the other to Stephanie. We screamed and tore open those boxes. Mine was Agnes Jeanette born on September 1st...she had brown shoulder length hair that was held in pig tails that were also tied at the bottom...she wore a purple baby doll knit top with purple knit bloomers and there was a little ducky on the top. She was FABULOUS! I still have her...pack rat...who me?! The dress she has on is one that I wore when I was a wee little baby. I think my mom said I wore it once. You know...babies grow so fast...or maybe I just grew way super fast and went through a million cute little dresses before I was 1! I do have a box that has a lot of cute little knit dresses from when I was so cute and teeny...along with a bunch of my stuffed animals too. Ha ha...Clint thinks it is a little insane of me. I love that I have kept it all.
I believe that Steph still has her Marianne ____ who had red hair tied in braided pigtails...she wore a yellow jersey dress with a pink heart and light pink leotards. I do not remember her birthday. ;op I just recall that Christmas as the most exciting gift opening...a Cabbage Patch Doll was something I really truly felt I needed so bad. I don't remember ever wanting a TOY that bad before. But I also liked getting new pj's and undies and patterned socks...those I always knew I needed and loved getting them.

Even though I had always been a fan of the whole gift exchange program during Christmas of which I always pretended I wasn't in a rush to get home from Church, have delicious kaffee und kuchen, read the Christmas Story and then...Bonanza...Let's open presents!!! I loved that our family would be together with our cousins and grandparents. We would have a wonderful big meal with all of the fixings while sitting around the tables (kids & adult) laughing and chatting and just enjoying being in the presence of the people we love and cherish most...family. Then of course after all has been said and done, everyone with full bellies and reminiscing about the lovely evening we all just shared together we would play with our new toys and what not and have fun til the wee hours of the night. That is what I love about Christmas. Good food, good people, good laughs, fun times and lots and lots of love. To me Christmas is family & LOVE.

This Christmas it was just Clint and I. I was so looking forward to a quiet Christmas with just the two of us. I also was feeling sadness over not being with my family...I haven't seen my nieces and nephews since last Christmas and they grow so fast. But...this Christmas was heavenly. Clint cooked me an amazing and huge Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. We ate turkey leftovers until today! Perfect! We just stuffed our bellies then enjoyed some wine and just sitting in the living room chatting. I decided I wanted to give him the few things I picked up for him. Multi-purpose saw thingy majiggy tool that he is over the moon about and some chocolates and a book...I had also bought him a beautiful New Zealand wool sweater that I gave him last month! ;o) Things that he needs. He made me a few things that pretty much melted my soul. He painted a portrait of me a few years back...to surprise me he constructed a fabulous wooden frame with denim and leather and studs and daisies...I love it!! And then he made me an art piece...reclaimed wood surrounding a glass block that is painted with transparent red...it has metal daisy studs on it, tin and sea boat wood and rope...it's so incredible. It is our hearts together forever...inseparable. See...soul melting. I love my husband...and he loves me...sweet! :o) I now need to find the perfect spot for it to hang and for us to enjoy looking at and thinking about our love for another. Those were the thoughts I went to bed with...love. We slept in til 10:30 Christmas day and had a super lazy relaxing day of drinking Bailey's in our coffee with mimosa's and yummy eggs and toast...taking an afternoon nap and then watching movies. Special Christmas day for us.

Well...I love Christmas. I am sad it is over. New Years is about to roll by...thank goodness! 2010 was an exhausting year for me. I did a lot of soul searching and mind figuring outing and just things to better myself as a human being and wife. I have made some major mistakes in my life...and I used this past year to actually take the time and learn a lesson from them. Taking responsibility can be very hard! But I'm glad I did it...and it's still a work in progress. ;o)

Peace out...