Merry (late) Christmas and Happy New Year!

My grandparents, Henry, Me and Lucy

Lucy the Leo

Late night creations

Christmas was good this year. Real good. It was laid-back and relaxed and that's just the way I like it. On Christmas Eve, we were at my mom's house with my grandparents, my uncle and my siblings. We ate a lot, laughed a lot and enjoyed life (and the heat which I sneakily jacked up to 67 degrees). Christmas morning was nice as well, despite the fact that it never even felt like Christmas. Once our "hour of greed", as my uncle calls it, was over, Lucy, Henry and I headed to our dad's house. We lounged around the wood stove for a few hours and had some home made mac and cheese--my favorite.

Each year Christmas becomes less and less about who receives the best gifts and more about how lucky we are to be happy and healthy and to have each other. Holidays always force me to think about all the people who are less fortunate than I am and since I can't easily end world hunger and create world peace and all that jazz (although I totally wish I could!), the best thing I can do is just sit here and appreciate what I have. And that's exactly what I'm doing.

Tomorrow morning we are braving this blizzard and driving up to Montreal for some post-Christmas shopping sales and some quality family time. I'm excited.

Here's to a new year filled with love, laughter, friendship, happiness and sunshine. Happy New Year!