Christmas

What a great day it has been. I got up before 7:30 and was on my way to my sister's house an hour later. She has such a great family - she has six kids, the youngest of which is 18 now, and five of them were there today, two of them with their spouses and two with their girlfriends. I got to be there with them while they opened up all their presents, which I absolutely love, and my sister loved the necklace I gave her. And I loved what she gave me! I got A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon, Wildflower by Sherly Crow and...a digital camera! You'll be seeing a lot of pictures on this page for a while. I also got Finding Neverland from my nephew and his wife (we had drawn names, and his wife got my name), along with a super soft throw, which I loved. Overall, a very nice haul.

And we had a great dinner, but the food aside, it was just wonderful to sit around a table with 11 other people, who were all telling stories and jokes and laughing and just enjoying being with each other. This wonderful family time is what makes the holidays truly worthwhile. And now I'm going to go spend the evening watching a Christmas movie on ABC Family channel. But I'm not signing off without showing you some pictures! I can't show any of my family on here, since they don't know about the page and it's not my place to plaster their images on the Internet, but I'll show what I can.

My sister's dog, Ginger

My Christmas tree, without flash.

My Christmas tree, with flash. The angel is crooked, but given that it's on top of the TV (it's a 3' tree) and that my cats spend a large amount of their time sitting on top of the DVR next to it, pulling at the branches, it's really a wonder that the whole thing hasn't fallen to the floor (that's Gracie in the picture).

Okay, that's it for tonight. I hope you all had a great holiday, and that Santa brought you everything your heart desired!