The travelers have arrived!

Manda and Ben's flight out of Nebraska got cancelled last night, because of fog in Chicago, so Ben's parent's picked them back up (how anticlimactic is that!) and they got a flight out at 0700 today to Cinncinnati, then to Philly. They got in at 12.30. After having lunch, they napped for a couple of hours, since they had been up since 4 a.m. their time.

Heather and Ed left their house at 4 a.m. and got to Ed's parents house this afternoon.

Tonight a bunch of Manda and Steph's friends are coming over to hang out. Tomorrow Ralph has to work, and Monday we'll do an early dinner, presents, then the whole family is coming over to see everyone and wish Heather a Happy Birthday.

It's mild out, in the upper 40's. It was overcast most of the day.

Holly

Merry Christmas!

Over the last week I've been making a real effort to say "Merry Christmas". I have a friend who works in a big bank, and the staff is not allowed to use the word Christmas. They have to say Happy Holidays, even if they're responding to someone saying Merry Christmas. They can have disciplinary action taken if they say Merry Christmas. How ridiculous is that?

So when anyone wishes me "Happy Holidays," I've been responding with "Merry Christmas." The usual response is a startled look and a "You too." Our country has gotten entirely too politically correct.

It's finally Christmas Day! Last night Steph, DMIL Florence and I went to Kevin and Naureen's for a Seven Fishes Christmas Eve Dinner. Ralph was at work, as he is today. The downside of working in a hospital. Frank and Charlotte, and Jim and Sharon and the kids- "The Bubbas" as Kevin calls them were there, and Charlotte's mom and brother, and Naureen's parents and sister, and Kevin and Naureen's daughters. We had a lovely evening.

This morning I talked to Manda in Nebraska, and Heather in NC. It sounds like they're both having a nice day, although Manda's started earlier than she'd have chosen. I have sweet potatoes and carrots roasting with dill and garlic to take to Mike's, and Steph is pretending to be awake.

Mom, Steph and I are going to Mike and Donna's for Christmas dinner. Michael is home from Florida for the week, so we'll get to see him.

The ER staff is all bringing in food. Being a guy, Ralph got off easy- he took in 2 bottles of soda. This year, next year to work, and the following year he'll be retired and won't have to work any of the holidays! Then we'll just be working around Heather's hospital schedule.

And the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and it's not real cold out!

Things to be happy about:
I have a wonderful family, every one of them!
Ralph's health remains good!
Ralph's health remains good! (yep, I count that one twice, because it's so important)
My daughter's are all healthy and happy.

Merry Christmas!
Holly

Christmas Eve Eve

That's what my kids always called today. We talked to Manda tonight- she's in Nebraska visiting Ben's family. She said she texted Merry Christmas Eve Eve to Steph this morning. It sounds like she's having fun doing holiday things with the Briles family. And they have snow, which (I'm glad) we don't.

Half day at work today, now I'm off until January 5th! And I finished up the last sewing I had to do last night. Today Ralph and I did some errands, tomorrow I have to do some food shopping, and some of the gifts really have to be wrapped.

Steph gets out at 2 tomorrow, and will come directly here. Toast stayed over, so Steph doesn't have to go home first.

Holly

Winter Solstice

Here's the link to make a wordle. http://www.wordle.net/ You can just type in a bunch of words, or you can have it get the words from a website or blog.

We started out the day cleaning up our house, then Ralph and Steph went to my Mom's with me. She wanted to go into the basement, and the steps are steep and without a railing. She hasn't been down since Dad died, but she wanted to bring up some Christmas things. We ended up spending three hours down there, and filling up 6 large trash barrels! We talked her into parting with John's rusty baby chair (John is 52), but she wasn't ready to part with the rusty tray tables. Baby steps! We were all exhausted when we were done.

One and a half work days til Christmas vacation starts. Today is the first day of Hanakkuh, and the Winter Solstice- the longest night of the year. I just got a new Melissa Etheridge CD of Christmas Songs, and she has a great song about the longest night.

Holly

My wordle!

I got the link to do this from Mary's site. Isn't it cool? It takes all the words in my blog and comes up with this design.

Isn't he the cutest?

This is Eddie, before it got too cold out. Isn't he the cutest kid? He's going to be such a heartbreaker with that red hair and those gorgeous blue eyes. And he's such a sweetie.

Shopping, shopping and more shopping.

I'm almost done! I ordered more things from amazon.com earlier this week, and those things are on the way. Last night Ralph and I made a Sam's club run, and tonight we went out in the cold, dreary rain and went to Target. I have to sit down and make a final list, and get to it.

I'm not sure if we're decorating. The fact that there is no furniture in the dining room is holding everything up, or maybe it's giving me an excuse. (Not that I need an excuse to not decorate!) I'll have to consult with Stephanie this weekend. After all, that which is decorated must eventually be undecorated.

I just finished "Tribute", the newest Nora Roberts. A little slow at the beginning, but then it sucked me in and I didn't want to do anything but read it.

Now I have to think about getting all the gifts in one place and wrapping them.

Holly