"I'll Be Home For Christmas"

This Christmas has been so amazing. The stress of the shopping and preparations before the big day have all disappeared after such an amazing time with family. I feel so rejuvenated from so much love, laughter and cheer.

Believe it or not, once upon a time, there weren't any gas stations or stores open on Christmas day and they would close much earlier on Christmas Eve. If you weren't prepared for Christmas day events with family, you just made the best out of it with what you had. My husband's side of the family has always enjoyed brunch on Christmas day. Several years ago, we would sit around the kitchen table and play Uno, Skip-Bo, Rummy, or would put a puzzle together. In more recent years, we all went our separate ways after eating and cleaning the kitchen. This year, we played Uno and it was hours of fun and laughter together.

Another reason this has been such an unforgettable Christmas is because my sister and I that live closer to my mom spent Christmas Eve at moms house this year. We weren't able to last year because mom was in the hospital with an unknown infection. She was running very high fevers, had chills and was losing weight very fast. She spent 10 days in the hospital. We believe it was from her immune system being very low due to chemo therapy that she had been going through for pancreatic cancer. She wasn't released until New Years Day of 2018. We made new wonderful memories this year at moms house with good food and good company. My sister made the most amazing lasagna I can ever remember. My mom threw a salad together and toasted some garlic bread in the oven. And I made my pumpkin cheesecake per my sisters request. (She missed out on the pumpkin cheesecake from Thanksgiving so I owed it to her.)

Family is important to me. I feel like I am so blessed with such great people in my life. There are even a few close friends that I consider family. There are good people out in this world. You just have to trust that God will put those amazing people in your life. And I'm grateful that God does.

I found an inspirational quote to share and I will of course leave you with a bible verse that God provides for me. "The magic of Christmas in not in the presents, but in His presence."

James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."