Happy, happy day to you and yours!

We kicked off the holiday with a visit from my in-laws in our NEW HOUSE. Though a good portion of our things are stacked in boxes in a spare room, we got the guest room in working order just in time to greet them. It was a lovely visit, with a trip to the Christkindlmarkt followed by the longest game of Crazy 8s in Books and Brews history.

On Friday, the fence guy came to the house to give us an estimate on a backyard fence. To say I had a meltdown might be an accurate assessment. 👀 Just a note: before you invite the fence guy out to your house, know your property lines and know exactly where you want the fence to adjoin to your house. My poor mother-in-law witnessed the whole exchange. But at least we have starting point (that's the only way I could think to salvage the situation - call it a starting point).

Friday night we did presents and video chatted with our niece, Baby Jo. ❤

For Christmas Eve, we braved the white out weather conditions to visit with my family. It's always a good time crammed into Nana's tiny kitchen, eating all the best foods and visiting with the fam. The highlight of the night was the moment the smallest child opened a present that had been packaged in a Fiber One Brownies box. Believing he had indeed received 40 wrapped fiber brownies inside the box, he exclaimed, "Oh, golly!" 🤣

At almost midnight, a true Christmas miracle took place. My littlest brother planned to join us for Christmas Eve but flat tires and stopped traffic stood in his way on his road trip home from Wisconsin. We had given up on seeing him, and when he called to say they would be an extra hour later (again), I could hear the disappointment in his voice. But what could we do? It was after 11:00PM and we had an hour and a half drive home ahead of us.

After leaving my family, James insisted we needed to stop at a convenience store for last minute baking supplies so we could do some baking on Christmas day in our new home. As I waited in the car, he came out of the store with his arms full of supplies and said, "Uh, look. Your brother!"

By some trick of fate, Christmas magic managed to stop us both at the same gas station at the exact same time so we could see each other for Christmas Eve. ✨ We couldn't have planned it better! Both cars were packed to the gills, so we opened our presents from Noah and Kristin inside the shop mart at 11:30PM on Christmas Eve night. It truly felt like magic, I tell you.

And this morning? Well, I woke up at 7:30AM and could not get back to sleep. It's Christmas, after all! I all but dragged James out of bed. In our matching PJs, we exchanged presents and gave the creatures their new treats and toys in their stockings. I am writing this (longgggg overdue) post on my brand new Chromebook and sipping coffee from my brand new mugs and getting wafts of cinnamon from my brand new candle while Lockhart manages to make all of Harry's arm bones disappear.

This has been the best Christmas ever and it's not even 9:00 o'clock in the morning. 😍