Merriest of merries

Happy Christmas, sweet and loyal readers. My sincerest apologies for the lack of posts lately - crazy days at work, B being out of town last week, and rush crochet orders to finish took up my time. But I'm at home now with my family for my last Christmas as an unmarried woman. It's shaping up to be a good one. Restaurants and laughs, home cooking, seeing my bestie and her sweet baby daughter...it doesn't get much better than this.

Most poignant of all, a torch is heading downstream to another generation. My great-grandmother, who will be 97 in January and who historically makes the bulk of our Christmas Eve dinner, broke her arm a few weeks ago. Clearly she deserves a little break from the cooking. Guess who is in charge of the collard greens for the entire family? It's sad to think I'm a "grown-up" and no longer a kid, but it feels good to contribute and to carry forward family traditions.

However, we're also starting a new tradition - a family-wide dirty Santa game. As the family prepares to gain two new members in 2014 (by marriage, let me emphasize), it also seems appropriate to mix in new traditions, too.

Wherever you are, whatever and however you celebrate, I hope you're doing something or eating (or drinking!) something that makes you feel happy and loved and celebratory. Happy Christmas to you all! Thank you so much for being "sous mom parapluie" with me this year!