Christmas Done!

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you had a wonderful celebration with family and friends.

We have had a fun holiday season so far, starting with two families on our street hosting a Holiday Open House. One couple served savory dishes from 6:00 to 7:30, and then we walked down the road to another house for desserts. It was a great time catching up with neighbors we already know and meeting several new ones, especially from the street behind us.

We are very lucky to live on a street with a row of five or six homes directly across from each other (about eleven homes total), and we know almost everyone. Many are good friends, and we truly look out for one another. It feels like a little village, and I love that sense of community. Even though we are all on different parts of the political spectrum, we don’t let that affect our relationships.

After the Open House, we continued with our holiday traditions of driving around to see various Christmas light displays, watching our favorite holiday movies, and shopping for gifts.

This year was especially meaningful because it was the first time I truly surprised S with her gifts from me and from Santa. Usually she asks Santa for something specific and gets it, but this year she had no requests, so it was completely up to me. I think she was very happy with her gifts! She knows I’m Santa, but I still love getting her a gift to open on Christmas morning.

We also had our usual gathering at my sister’s place. It was a great time with good food, lots of laughter, and everyone seemed happy with their gifts - plenty of sweaters, cozy socks, candy, and household items. S, of course, received a few horse-related treasures :-)

Now on to New Year's~