While the date on the calendar may have said December 27th, we still felt the Christmas spirit in our hearts ♥ and minds ∞!
Late this aft, we gathered at my parents’ to enjoy our (belated) family Christmas celebration. Let’s establish atmosphere:
festive spriggery...
the traditional...
tradition: a "table gift" to open before dinner!
This year we each received a book as our table gift. I squealed with glee over mine: the novel Freedom by Jonathan Franzen – from my list!
the stockings were propped against the wall with great care...
Santa gifted me such varied stocking stuffers as cosy socks, a hardcover knitting pattern book (!), organic cinnamon, a toothbrush, tea towels…Santa has a good imagination and makes good choices!
A merry ol’ time had we!…
presents!
the brother and i have posed in this manner for a photo every year since childhood
we love christmas!
...we really do!
we love togetherness!
...we really do!
Thanks to my family’s generosity, I’ll be able to choose a recipe from the Joy of Cooking, chop/mash/whip ingredients in my Black and Decker Food Processor, and fry up whatevers in my non-stick frypan! I look forward to experimenting!
Happily, the girls’ knits were a hit!
little e and her ballet wrap sweater...
baby c insisted on wearing her cardigan - sans pants or dress - for the rest of the night!
So while this Christmas may go down in the family chronicles as “the Christmas of innovation and flexibility,” tonight was a solidly joyful celebration.
Formals for the record book:
with mom and dad
with grandma
with b
Much love and thanks to each member of my family. xoxo!
And that’s a Christmas Wrap for 2010!
Comments
Glad your mom is on the mend. Hang in there, Marnie!
Love your sweater in these pix, too – obviously knit by your own hand, right?!
I’m still looking forward to my own family’s Christmas celebration once we arrive in Ontario tomorrow… I think we celebrate/open presents, etc. on New Year’s Eve this year, actually!
Look forward to seeing you next week, too, Cath!
ooh, I think you should post said pictures of yourself and brother from Christmases of past so we can see the changes. Would be fun!
Ours too was a “Christmas of innovation and flexibility”. Dad had to go into work at the last minute because a co-worker had developed an acute case of gall stones and so our/his Christmas Eve/Day/Boxing Day (previously off) changed entirely in a heartbeat. We wound up bringing Christmas dinner to him at work and postponing all our gift exchanging to 9:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve. But – you know – you discover that everyone is far more flexible than you think and that there are times when it’s just necessary to roll with the punches.
So glad that your mom is feeling much better, the family found a way to still gather together and that you had a good – if not entirely traditional – Christmas.
jo
wow, that WAS a turn of events for your family, too! and you, too, are proof that christmas is about being with family! and you are so right! we discovered: 1) that ice cream bars make a refreshingly cool and not-too-heavy dessert; 2) “the meal” can be lunch or dinner, matters not 3) the brunch smorgasboard is a beautiful thing! so i’m with you on being open to change!