It was very lovely

In spite of the fact that my father passed away six weeks ago today, I really enjoyed Christmas.  I am not at all certain that my mother, grandmother, and sister would agree with my assessment, but having kids helps tremendously.  They keep the magic and wonder in the holiday...and keep this mom smiling.

Christmas Eve ended up being almost exactly what I wanted, although there were parts of the day that were tough.  Not only did I miss Dad, I was feeling so very alone and a little "lost" in our new town where we really don't know anyone.  We went to 3:30 Mass, followed by our annual Chinese food for dinner.  After we ate, we drove around neighborhoods in our new town.  We loved the fact that in the community park we were able to watch some deer...it was so quiet and there was literally not another vehicle around.  When came home, and the kids were able to open their gifts from out-of-town friends, and we gave them the one gift they receive each year from "Mom & Dad"...pajamas!  We all curled up on the couch (we recently purchased a new, very large couch) and settled into watch our DVD of "Charlie Brown's Christmas" and the animated "Grinch who Stole Christmas" was on as that ended.  I then read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to everyone and Thomas and Catherine especially, were eager to get to bed.

Everyone was up and at 'em about 8:00 on Christmas morning.  The kids were very thrilled with their gifts, and Andrew and I also received so many fun presents.  We were able to have a somewhat lazy morning before making the 75 minute drive to my sister's house.  Our little immediate family exchanged gifts before aunts/uncles/cousins arrived for dinner.  It was pretty much bed time by the time we arrived home, and to be honest, I was equally exhausted.

There were definitely times that I missed Dad and tears would start to form, but overall it was nice.  I also know that each day and each year will get easier in terms of him being gone, so this was the toughest one.

Today we are trying to get some things taken care of before we head east to visit Andrew's parents, but we just found out before we leave town we get to sign papers to close the sale on the house tomorrow!