A Merry Christmas to all of you!

Since I work holiday retail, I always sit on Christmas Eve as a pile of tired.  This year, there is a family thing going on and it seems to have sucked the life out of all of us.  Compound the new family funk added on top of existing family strife.  That has made this holiday even tougher.

It's sad.  I'm a peace loving middle child, after all.

Despite all of that, we have celebrated K's 11th birthday Friday and Saturday.  (One day wasn't enough!)  She had a great time on Friday with her cousins and a couple of friends, we went to the planetarium show on Sunday (her request) and were able to spend a nice day together.  Sunday morning was to be a church day, but K woke up feeling a might funky.  She had one of THE virus' running around and it laid her flat in bed for 2 1/2 days.  She got better in time for Christmas Eve!  So, her illness probably hasn't helped my slump this evening.

Buddy the Elf has gone back to the North Pole this evening.  When we left for family Christmas Eve, he left K a letter and a snow globe, then away he went.  She's left cookies and tea for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer.

Christmas Eve brought my cousin giving me a copy of the cook book that she created from recipes from her mom.  Her mama was my Godmother.  My Aunt Carol died 5 years ago from brain cancer and I was very close to her.  When the recipe book came up in the White Elephant and they were reading from it, I sat there in tears.  Oh, how I miss Aunt Carol.

This year we don't have my sister's Happy Birthday Jesus cake, though.  That makes my heart sad.  :(

My kiddo is on the mend.

My gifts are wrapped and some of those have been delivered by either USPS or by hand.

Cookies have been distributed.

We have a home and family and heat, water and essentials that so many others don't.

We have so many things to be thankful for.  Though my holidays seem to be awash of bad decisions made by people who know better and are bumming me out, I have so many other wonderful things to be thankful for.  I don't want the bad choices of a few to override the joy of many.

We celebrate Christ's birthday.  That is far more important than any peripheral garbage going on in my life.

We might not have a Jesus' birthday cake, but we have Jesus and that is far more important than a piece of cake any day.

Merry Christmas to all.