Merry Christmas!!

Stewie checking out the action

Our awesome family:

Ben, CeCe, Christie, Grandpa Don, Kent, Manny & Carrie

Ahhh, the house is quiet, Zackie has finally calmed down from all the excitement and is asleep on my lap as I type. Poor guy, not only did he have to contend with a houseful of people but Christie & Kent brought their little kitten, Stewie, along. Zackie was OK to check Stewie out on his own terms but when Ben sat them down together Zackie went ballistic, growled, screamed, and couldn't hop (yes, Kent -- it was quite funny to see) away fast enough. He didn't come back upstairs for hours.

Our Christmas was wonderful; my girls are so thoughtful in their gift selections. Manny was a bit disappointed that he received 'too much fabric' (type gifts) but once he looked at all the cool shirts he got he decided that they weren't all that bad after all. I'll have to remember to balance that next year . . . shirt, toy, shirt, book, etc. Gregg counted all the gifts under the tree and calculated that we'd have to open a gift every two minutes in order to meet our deadline to sit down for brunch at 11:30, open our ornaments and get ready for my brother, sister, niece, nephew, and girlfriend to join us. Each year I give the kids an ornament that signifies something that they did during the year so that when they put them on their tree next year they can recall fond memories of years' past. Surprisingly CeCe really looked forward to it and loved the little reading owl that she received; this year she's discovered how fun that reading is and is hooked on 'Junie B. Jones' books.

I didn't get a chance to organize my parents' slides; perhaps next year :-) For the second year Carrie won the Zarling Trivia contest and is the honorary 'Zarling of the Year' and proud holder of the honored 'Z' award.

Two more celebrations (Gregg's mom and Uncle David's family) and Christmas will be over; how bittersweet that is. But, I can dream and plan for next year -- I vow to (try and) have all my planning and wrapping done by December 1st so I can take the kids to a Nutcracker performance, go caroling, take the 'Jingle Bell' bus downtown to see the lights, visit the Pabst Mansion to view the decorations, light all the Advent candles (this year I made it past the first one) -- or take it as it comes and seize the moment(s).

Christmas is in HOW MANY MORE DAYS?

I started my Christmas shopping and wrapped the gifts before we went to Germany. Yes, that WAS in September . . . I thought that if I got the gifts out of the way I could enjoy the season; take in an Advent workshop, look at the lights, do more decorating, bake cookies, etc. like those that are more organized somehow find time to do. (Another reason for the early wrapping was so that the girls wouldn't peak when they came to check on Zackie while we were gone). OK, so much for great intentions. Here it is the 22nd and I still have some gifts to wrap, meal to plan, and being the procrastinator that I am -- not much incentive to finish. Perhaps I'm secretly thinking that if I get all the stuff done on my to do list Christmas day will be upon me and all the anticipation will be spent in a couple of hours. I want Christmas to last longer, like when I was a kid and watching 'Rudolph' and 'Charlie Brown's Christmas' were just the intro to the season . . . when there was time for ice skating, sledding, going to Candy Cane Lane, listening to Bing Crosby . . . never did get into that baking thing though. This year we're hauling out my parents old slides and reliving those times -- I haven't seen these in years and am anticipating some great laughs at my expense. My Dad enjoyed taking still and movie pictures; perhaps that's where I get my muse from. This time of year is never easy with both of my parents gone but we've created new traditions and memories; the 'Zarling' of the year trivia game is met with much anticipation -- the girls get to learn a bit more about their cousins and share a couple of laughs inspite of themselves. Last year we started making gifts for each family member and my brother Jerry gave each of us Pillsbury cookies, the kind that you have to bake -- obviously he didn't quite get it. Niece Tena made some gorgeous ornaments and I made a picture collage of things in nature that look like letters which spelled out my sister's family name 'KLOTZ'. I'm hoping that they like this year's bit of creativity . . . stay tuned!