We had a wonderful albeit different Christmas…

With my oldest getting over the flu and pink eye and my brother too sick to come over,

Our Christmas definitely was void of some normalcy..

I was off my game, I didn’t take any pictures of opening presents..

Twas the Night Before Christmas… Presents tucked under the tree and stockings stuffed..

Wearing my traditional Santa Apron… 

Gotta love the orange fuzzy socks and blue slippers..

It was just 8 am at this point…

My allergies were acting up and I can see evidence of some swelling in this photo..

Medicine kicked in and I was free of any symptoms for the day..

My youngest in his new pj’s bottoms and slippers..

I think I didn’t get photos as much as usual today, as my kids all spent the entire day in pj’s..

My oldest came late opened gifts, then slept for a few hours in the living room, woke up gave me a present then left, not sure whether he would be up for coming back for dinner… I set a place and the table, but alas he didn’t come back..

I wasn’t surprised as he really is sick and needed to rest up..

Breakfast Buffet before everyone dug in…I love the flowers my husband brought home , who knew you could get sunflowers in winter..Not that we had winter temps as it was in the high 60’s..

My sister took a plate to my older brother who was too sick to  join us..

She also took him dinner on her way home, so at least I know my sick brother was well fed for the day…

My husband did take one photo when the guys went out to try Connor’s new compound bow…

Check out that Bullseye!  

I changed for dinner… 

I even added red lipstick, lol..

This is my new apron!  I love it!  

It’s from Expressions found here…

Yep, I love my new apron!  

My family laughed at my wardrobe change for dinner, but I had fun with it!  

Dear Readers, I hope you all had a wonderful day!  We ended our night, with a 14 slice sampler of cheesecake with each being a different flavor… We huddled around the island trying bites… We each had a bite of 5 kinds before we decided we’d had enough and put it away to finish another night or two… It really was a lot of fun, I missed my older brother in that moment as I know he would have loved it.. 

Gratitude

I am grateful that my oldest felt well enough to at least come by for a few hours and that I surprised him with a sweater he wanted but thought was too expensive and a wonderful fair isle scarf..

I am grateful for a chance to be with my siblings and talk about memories of our parents.

I am grateful that my youngest had some success when trying his compound bow for the first time, 

I am grateful for the weird not traditional Christmas where we were all off our game, with few pictures ,but great conversation and connection. 

I am grateful that I budgeted successfully and my husband will be going car shopping tomorrow to get a vehicle with better gas mileage and one that won’t hurt his hip when getting in and out of it.. 

I am grateful for my husband getting Salesman of the Year and the consistent sales with this new company that has alleviated the feast or famine where I use to fill my freezers and pantry in preparation for the slump the was always around the corner.  He’s been challenged to sell a million dollars for 2015, and the funny part is, it’s very doable based on his track record with this industry.  

I am grateful that I successfully managed my time and had the amazing break on Christmas Eve to recharge my batteries. 

I am grateful for laughter, love and any excuse to spend time all together!  

I am grateful for faith and the reason for the season!  

Merry Christmas!