it's the mooooost wonderful timmmme of the yearrrrrr

I was trying to make the title sound like I was singing it.  Get it?  


Anyway, Christmas is my most favorite holiday ever.  Mostly though, Christmas Eve is my very favorite. 


Every year for as long as I can remember, my entire dad's side of the family heads to Christmas Eve service at our little tiny church back home (the average congregation age is probably about 75 and on a good Sunday, 20 people show up) and the kids that sometimes show up for church put on a Christmas pagent (or more recently it's turned into "special music"-which means play your favorite instrument or recorder or sing along with a boombox) and sometimes Santa shows up to pass out a bag of candy and oranges! 


Then we head to my Grandpa's house to catch up, open presents, and eat! 

The past few years have been really fun because a few of my cousins have little kiddos that have made opening presents 10 times more exciting.


It used to be just us adults opening up our gift cards, socks, and chapstick, which is all fine and great, but now that the kids are back in the picture, there are tons of toys to put together and play with all night!


We also have a ton of good food: wings, shrimp, crab, cookies, dips as far as the eye can see, and oyster soup. 


I'm not a big fan of the oyster soup, but most of my family is...I just can't chew up the little thingys in the soup.  It grosses me out (sorry Aunt JoAnn!).

I'm really crossing my fingers that the snow holds off this year so that we can all be together without worrying about the weather...you see, last year, we had so much snow that everything was cancelled; my brother in law couldn't come because he had to help clear off the roads, my mom had to go into work the night before because the snow was so bad, and everyone had to leave early because roads were drifting shut. 

Don't get me wrong, I love a white Christmas, but this was a little rediculous...4 feet of snow in the back yard, drifts so high that my dad's truck couldn't get through, and it was non-stop.  Needless to say, we didn't leave the house much that weekend. 

I think by the time we were actually able to leave my parents house to head back to Kansas City that we all had a bit of cabin fever, even the dogs!

I really don't even remember when the snow finally stopped for good.  It seemed to go on for a verrrry long time last year.

So far, the past year has been a good one; I kind of can't believe that it's already Christmas-time! 

With this year quickly coming to a close, I want to thank each and every one of you who reads my blog.  I love all of the comments and emails about my random stories and I hope that I can continue to be as entertaining next year!

With the way my life goes, it shouldn't be a problem!

Merry Christmas (or substitute your favorite holiday here) and Happy New Year!

xo