happy st. john's day!

I actually have a quiet moment to myself, a rare event this last week. Monday through Wednesday my spare hours were committed to completing Christmas shopping, getting groceries, cleaning the house, and so on. Ugh! I am now committed to putting deadlines on next year's calendar to accomplish certain tasks and not procrastinate. I am not a fan of last minute anything at Christmas! Though we would have loved for Junior and Trisha to be with us for the entire day on Christmas, it worked out just fine that they didn't get here until dinner time. I was on Santa and Elf duty until lunch time, after which point I shifted gears to play the role of domestic diva. In between, of course, there was a puppy feeding schedule, but that never felt burdensome.Anyway, half an hour before the kids got here Ken and I actually had a few moments to sit and relax! A good thing, too, because once J and T got here we were in high gear until 2:30 in the morning! We didn't eat until 9:00 or so because we got so busy talking, and then there were presents to open!
By late afternoon I confess that the stressed, nonstop task-focused nature of the day had worked to deflate my spirits significantly, but when J & T arrived that all changed. We had a great evening and lots of fun. We love Trisha, and she is a good match for Junior in so many ways. By the time we finished with stockings in the wee hours, I was a zombie, and the kiddos kindly offered to take care of feeding the pups so I could go to bed.

When we got up the next morning Junior was fast asleep on the couch with a cover half open over him. I got him properly covered and pillowed (look, Mom--it's the pillowcase you made me when I was a kid!) so he could catch more comfortable zzz's, and the rest of us chatted, cleaned up the mess from the night before, and enjoyed coffee.
A planned trip to Cracker Barrell for breakfast turned out to be Mexican for lunch, and before I knew it it was 3:30 in the afternoon before I had a chance to take a breath and a break. Phew! After that I spent more hours than should have been required to make a blog to post our Christmas letter, but at least now it's done. If I didn't send you a link (it was the middle of the night after a puppy feeding when I sent it out), you can see it here.

This afternoon the plans are to go see the holiday decorations at the Opryland Hotel, then head downtown to go to the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman. Keith Urban (hmmm, where have I heard that name before?) and Julianne Hough are part of the lineup, and I won't even start to tell you what we went through to get the tickets!

Well, that's enough for now. This has turned out to be a happier holiday than I anticipated it would be, and I am grateful for that.