The remains of the day.........

 (yes, there is a Grinch ornament in the tree........!)

.....a lovely day spent with DH and the quiet of the country; no snow but pretty red lights on our table-top tree that was plenty and a delight to do! (would you expect anything else but red from me??? Really???)

Exchanging gifts, recalling holidays past, good times, lounging, napping......I can't remember a Christmas that was this low key and lovely! Delivered treats to the Budgie Boyz from *Santa-Budgie* which was pretty much like taking ten pounds of sugar and giving it to a couple of kids and encouraging them to eat it straight! Oh my...we laughed at their antics and squawks all day! Seriously, all day......they were pretty happy and wired! And LOUD......

We noshed on tidbits I had tucked away in the pantry and fridge, a day of no cooking! Watched movies---"A Christmas Story" being one of my favorites because it reminds me for some reason of my early days and it is just too funny, especially the bunny suit. (remember, I own and wear bunny slippers...) Plus, Darrin McGavin is perfect as *The Old Man*.......reminds me somewhat of my Dad, the facial expressions!

Closed the evening with a drive around in town to look at Christmas lights and enjoy the nightfall out in the car. Then back for some more time snuggled in the warm house with the red tree aglow until finally I had to call it a night. Still need a bit more stamina and getting up at 5:30 every morning is not helping! LOL! I would say I'm too old for these early hours but I'll blame it on the surgery instead.  ;-)

This was a great Christmas for all the reasons we never see promoted---small, simple, time for sharing talk, a drive, being with someone you love, having enough which is plenty, no pressure. Could you ask for a better day?

I couldn't.

Being home.....on my couch, with DH......the best Christmas ever!!!

I wish the same warm feelings for all of you. Sometimes we have to slow down to see what we really need, or want, or are thankful for.

Pax.

The end of vacation, not the end of Holiday

This is DH's last day of vacation; tomorrow it is back to the grind for both him and me come to think of it. I leave the decorations up through Epiphany, so I have one more week of joyous light in the house, then back to the usual Winter hum-drum. It always seems so bare and sparse (even with all my JUNK!) when everything is down and tucked away till next year. That is when the real sense of the dark of the year sets in.

Oh yes, they have all this stuff to decorate with for the in-between "non-seasons" but it has little appeal to me. Maybe it was because I grew up in the military--Army-- and spent Christmas and the extended holidays in Germany. Europe's celebration, at least at that time, was a gentler, less commercialized one, with the season starting at the beginning of December and lasting through, hmmmmmmm, was it Epiphany? It was long, with no hurry to move on to the next holiday. There was a sense of tradition that centered and grounded the holiday.

I remember being at the apartment on one of our German friends and who should appear as we were leaving but St. Nicholas! Armed with switches for the bad in one hand (Dad got chased into the car with those) and iced Lebkuchen for good children in the other (which I got) was absolutely magical. As an adult, I realize it was a kind old man, who grew a snowy white beard, donned a beautiful red robe over his slim frame---remember, this is Europe and not America--- and went into the neighborhood and made children truly BELIEVE.

The streets were so dark that night, dotted with the soft glow of the streetlamps and seeing the silhouette of St. Nick coming toward me was breathtaking. It was an experience hard to put to words. But it still lives in the Christmas lights each year; when the tree is up and covered with glass ornaments from about the world, from my Dad and Mom's travels via Uncle Sam, when I am cozy and content as the storms howl outside, as I sit and contemplate what Christmas is supposed to be about. Belief like a child; responsibility of doing for others.


Carry the light from this season in your heart all year; it doesn't have to go away.