Anxiously Awaiting Christmas

I am getting so excited for Christmas that I can hardly stand it. This is my last week of work before "Christmas Break", which is much shorter now that college is over. I am still getting 17 days off though...thanks to the amazing company I work for giving us so many holidays. It is slow around the office now, so if I can just make it through the week then I'll be FREE!!!

This weekend Doug & Donna are coming to visit us and see our new house!! They will be the last of our parents to see it & we are really excited to do Christmas with them. Then we will head north to Colorado where we will spend Christmas & New Year's with my family in our winter wonderland!! It can be more like dreary frigid hell, depending on how long my dad has to spend on the tractor to get us plowed out of the driveway... However, I'm hopeful it will just be a beautiful peaceful time with softly falling snowflakes.

Ok, so this is my perfect Christmas morning, the way I envision it:

I wake up at like 7am, go wake up my little brother (we still act like we're 7 on Christmas, we can't help it...), then we go wake up my parents. Everyone eventually get's out of bed, we all pad out to the living room to see what Santa has left in our stockings!! After the initial excitement, we brew some coffee, and indulge in a slice of warm cranberry banana bread as we sit by the fire, the tree glowing with lights & presents, and we watch the early morning snow fall softly to the ground. We all take a moment to thank God for the gift of his Son, and remember the true meaning of Christmas. Then everyone gathers around the tree, more coffee in hand, and we begin to open gifts. Everyone opens them one at a time, so we can all admire the gifts and enjoy the look of delight on each others face. After all the gifts are opened, we spend the day relaxing in our PJ's, playing with all our new stuff, playing 42 (in honor of Pap), and preparing the Christmas feast which is, of course, prime rib. The best part of the day is the spirit (& Christmas music) that fills the air, and the togetherness of family.

Hmmm...now that I'm back from dreamland I best get to work. It's only a 10 days till Christmas!! It's such a wonderful time of year. This year I feel extremely blessed to be going home to spend it with my family. I'm even more blessed to spend 2 weeks in Colorado and get to catch up with some friends too!! I'm just so excited I can't stop smiling :)