Christmas Eve

Well, it's the day! This is when everything has to be done or it won't get done. But I've found out that usually it doesn't matter. Of course, if you forgot to get Aunt Delores a present or forgot to make Grandpa Johnson's favorite cookies, you could be in trouble. But in the whole grand scheme of things, most of it's just fluff and life will go on even if we forget. Christmas Eve will come without the trappings and trimmings. And the older I get, the more I realize that spending time with family is the important thing. Tradition is nice and it's important, but being with family and loved ones is all that matters. I truly feel sorry for anyone who doesn't have any family or friends to spend Christmas Eve with.

Tonight we will go pick Dad up and all gather at sister Gloria's house. There will be too much food and presents that will ultimately get forgotten, but there will also be memories. Andy and I are giving Dad a record player. Yeah, an old fashioned player for vinyl records. I found a lot of his old favorite albums and got those for him too. We'll probably spend part of the evening listening to music from our childhood and from Dad's young adulthood. I hope he likes it. I hope it doesn't make him feel bad. He's always loved music and it's been a thread that's spun thru our lives. Of course, we'll listen to our old traditional Christmas eve music too. That's a given.

We have a new baby in the family, my nephew Scott's little son Rafe. He's a little over 7 months old and he's just adorable. So it's important to let him experience some of the traditions we follow in our family. I hope the weather allows that they make it. They live about an hour away and they won't try to come up if the weather stinks. I hope the snow holds off!

Well, I still have to do some cooking. Yeah, I know what I said, but I have pared down my list of things to take quite a bit from last year. I better get to it!

Merry Christmas
Happy Hanukkah