Christmas Weekend

What a wonderful and white Christmas weekend.

We started out with a Christmas Eve celebration at our friend's Ron and Elaine. For 20+ years we used to live on the same block in Edison. Now we live about 1 mile and a half from each other in neighboring towns and have been able to continue the tradition of sharing Christmas Eve with each other. Linda and Vinnie who moved from our block years ago were also able to join the festivities driving up from Maryland with their son. Elaine's brother and his wife also joined us. I learned for the first time that he is cancer survivor. His wife compared notes with my husband about being a caregiver and getting us to and at times talking us into continuing treatments. He and I compared the neuropathy we have in our feet. (I find it interesting that even meeting people with different cancers there is a special bond that makes you want to talk about our shared experiences. ) He is blessed with 2 years of survivorship. We ate delicious food and played fun games. The 5 year old twins were the real winners in the Christmas Memory Game.

On Christmas morning, Nick, Matt and I went to mass at St Anthony's then came home and with the fire going in the fireplace opened presents. I always wanted to be able to do that and in my new home I finally can. Later in the afternoon we ate dinner. Being of Italian descent, we needed the beginning pasta dish- ravioli then ham, sweet potatoes, & creme spinach. We let that settle and then went to see my Aunt for dessert. My sister and her family were there and my cousin joined us a bit later. From pears with honey , to an Egyptian coconut cake everything was delicious. Except the chocolate pecan pie I made - not good at all. Next year I'll go back to the Kentucky pecan pie recipe.

On Sunday after Mass we stopped for some things at the food store and hunkered down for the blizzard. We had about 20 inches here and the wind blew drifts even higher. It was so bad even the mail didn't get delivered today.

Now I'm just wondering how long until I see the wooden reindeer I have in the front yard.

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing!