12.25.12 - Merry Christmas!

This really is my favorite holiday of the year.  Of course there is the spiritual significance, but I love that there is a whole season of the year that builds up to today.  It's rarely about the stuff we get in our house - fortunately we had parents who kept us pretty grounded in this area as kids ourselves - but I think being away from all our family has helped our own kids to measure and weigh what is most important to them: quality time with family or a shiny new toy? Thankfully, they answer that question correctly, most of the time.

We had some great gifts today for each other, but the biggest gift/surprise has been a few months in the making and I was having trouble keeping it a surprise at the very end.  Marcy's sister, Lisa and her husband, Travis, surprised the family with a Christmas Day trip to Indiana.  Makela started to figure it out and as she started to put the hard press on me I was saved by the arrival of 'the best Christmas gift of the year!'

It was awesome to see the kids get so excited at the sight of the Aunt and Uncle, but even better to watch Marcy's reaction and surprise at seeing her best friend in person and not via a FaceTime call.  With a blizzard supposedly coming into town overnight, I guess we may have that opportunity to have a lot of quality family time. Sounds perfect to us!

Hope you and your family had a very Merry Christmas!


Christmas Song of the Day

Mele Kalikimaka by Bette Midler

We've got to bring a little Hawaiian flair into the Holiday season.  Bette Midler probably has one of the more 'fun' versions of this classic I've heard in recent years.