santa! (i KNOW him...)

Officially, Merry Christmas! It's been a busy day of pre-holiday prep. My family got into town yesterday (Sat). I stayed up all night cleaning, scrubbing, washing laundry, etc. It was nice to see the place all shiny and new, but I was pretty much beat by the time I crawled into bed. And poor SW had to get up early in the AM to hop her flight to Detroit. Hope she made it there ok... I know the DG is doing well in Georgia, having texted to confirm she made it back safe and sound.

Anyhow, today (now technically yesterday?) was a pretty traditional Christmas Eve, just a change of backdrop. My family joined me for the Christmas Eve service at my church, which was sort of a combination service... typically, the Sunday before Christmas is obviously not Christmas Eve, so there's usually two services. This year, it was all rolled into one. We have a huge pipe organ in my church, which is accentuated by the hardwood floors throughout the sanctuary. At the close of the service, we sang a series of Christmas carols, which was just perfect. If there was any doubt I was in the Christmas spirit, it has been officially stomped out!

Rio joined us for the service and an oh so traditional run to Lauriol Plaza. Doesn't everyone do Mexican Christmas eve? But hey, we have to spice up tradition every now and then, right? It was nice to see the place very different from the norm, with all three levels surprisingly ghost-town-esque. It was like the Twilight Zone, TX-MX style.

We made a final pre-Christmas run to the mall. Christmas Eve shopping... I swear, I don't know that I've ever really done it? I now have ALL of the required DVDs to be fully armed for the day... we were lacking Rudolph and the Grinch (original - sorry Jim). Unnacceptable. We're now good to go.

We got a late start on the tradition, but we still had the family norm of homemade of homemade cinnamon rolls and chili. Does it get any better? I just don't know. Hope your Christmas is off to a great start wherever your celebrations have taken you!