Always In Awe

of the beauty of

seeing my children together

and the joy they inspire in one another.

To the outside world, we all grow old.

But not to brothers and sisters.

We know each other as we always were.

We know each other's hearts.

We share private family jokes.

We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys.

We live outside the touch of time.

~Clara Ortega

Christmas Day 2009

The past several years we've hosted Christmas Eve at our house.
We are lucky enough to have some of our very favorite people join us here

and there's always room at our table for one (or ten!) more.

This year was no exception.

We had a beautiful evening of fabulous food and even better company.

You'll have to take my word for it since there are no pictures.

I was the Chef and Hostess and my camera didn't see the light of day.

********

It has been our tradition to join my father at his house on Christmas Day.

He and his wife always have a houseful the night before on Christmas Eve

so it is especially nice for WonderBoy and Sweetie

to have Grandpa all to themselves on Christmas Day.



The kids spend hours opening their gifts and playing with their toys...and I mean hours.

Some were left by Santa and the others are from Grandma and Grandpa

(who seriously don't know how to pass up a single toy or goodie for the kids)



Honestly, I've never seen so many presents for just two children.

(Except for here; last year and the year before and the year before that...)

Yep, all these were for them and then there was another mountain waiting across the room.

Christmas truly is a big day around here.

I can't possibly even begin to post pictures of everything the children received.

(We literally had to make 2 trips back to their house with our SUV to bring everything home!)

Inevitably, JR becomes Chief Elf for the day landing in a sea of boxes,

wrapping paper and instructions;

phillips screwdriver in one hand and a box of every size batteries in the other.



We are treated to a beautifully set table, a scrumptous early afternoon meal,

flowing champagne and lots and lots of lazy time to spend together.





Sitting at the table isn't really in the cards for a couple of Littles, though,

who rush through at lightning speed to get to the good stuff...play and more play.



Until even the Energ*zer bunny himself conks out........

(note the tiny ear of Kiddie on the pillow peeking out beneath his own ear)

Another beautiful memory.

Merry Christmas To All

A Touch of Christmas Cheer

(Special thanks to my sweet angel Gail at Aging with Grace for teaching me to use her signature collage technique!)