merry christmas '08

I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.
- Charles Dickens

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!! I hope you are having an amazing holiday season and that you got everything you wanted, needed, and/or thought you deserved in the gift department.

Christmas definitely ranks up there as one of my favorite times of year. Last night was spent with family, this morning was spent with family, tonight I will spend it with future family at Alex's house, and this weekend we'll still be celebrating again with even more family members. The company, the food, the excitement - it all makes the running around and planning you've been doing all season that much more worthwhile.

As per usual with my repertoire of gifts, I focused on the practical as well as the creative. So Cereal-on-the-Go containers, gift cards, sneakers, clothes (you know they want), art portfolios, curly hair-specific shampoo sets, baking pans, wine, and marshmallow shooters (yes, marshmallow shooters) were included in the mix. Then there were the more creative, you-get-this-because-I-really-love-you gifts, like extensive photo albums, pocket photo albums, mat frames, picture frames, restored pictures, pictures you forgot were taken of you, and pictures you've always wanted to print and frame. Pretty much, if it has to do with photos, I probably gave it to you.

The gifts I received, in turn, were equally as thoughtful, including the most comfortable pajamas, silver bracelets, pen sets, a business card holder, Sour Patch Kids, a photo album to fill, three cookie sheets, two cooking pans, one crepe mix, a cool storage bin, a collection of Neil Gaiman books (like The Graveyard Book!!), a makeup bag, an assortment of lotions and shampoos, and mony, to name just a few. But perhaps the most touching of all my gifts came from somebody who, knowing me so well, also gave me bandaids, Neutrogena hand cream, and little hand sanitizer dispensers. My little sister made a collage of the two of us and all the inside jokes and moments (or as many of them she could fit) we have been fortunate enough to share. It's really quite awesome, and frame it I will.

So yes, a very Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night =)