Rambling about Holidays for 5

And so this is Christmas. Every year I say it's not going to sneak up on me, and every year it does. And it did. Again. But honestly, I've had a great Christmas season, nearly accomplishing all the things that I set out to do.

One of the reasons is that The Kids, H & I all made a joint list of "what we wanted to do MOST this holiday season", and then we set about checking things off the list. Each person said their 3 favorite traditions about Christmas. This way I figured everyone could get the best Holiday experience.

There are 5 of us, so it could have been quite a list, but since some of the favorites were the same, we were able to get to all but ONE item. Yes, only 1 thing was missed, and it wasn't my fault. The thing was "tacky lights with the family", and the one night we could have gone there was record snow fall for Richmond.

Have you ever seen the special on the TLC channel about the Tacky Holiday Lights? The one family BOUGHT THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR so they could light up two houses as one giant display! Two of the families featured in that show are in my immediate area, I run past one all the time. Neither are lit up this week. The one had too much damage, we know, from the snow & ice, and the other - well we don't know the official word, but we assume the same. I guess we'll just be sure to do that next year.

The mission was completed, we ensured a success in all possible areas, and tomorrow it's Christmas Eve and we have "nothing" hanging over our heads with the exception of some dried mistletoe. Life is good. V, my dear friend, is back for a few days, and that always makes it seem like "CHRISTMAS" to me, and, from C's list, the Christmas Pageant Rehearsal went off tonight without a hitch... well, maybe a SMALL hitch, but really, who's counting at this point?

Truly, I wonder why I let myself get so caught up in the crazy last year. This year I'm all about "it's a wonderful life" and "the Wizard of Oz", and my personal favorite, "Charlie Brown Christmas", where we learn the true meaning of Christmas, commercialism, and good Jazz music.