merry christmas!

Yes, people - I went all un-PC and wished you a Merry Christmas. Please take no offense, and if Christmas isn't your holiday, please know that I am wishing you "happy holidays". I, however, celebrate Christmas, and so am in a Christmas frame of mind. My holiday season has been lovely. My office actually closed for two weeks, and so I abandoned NYC at the first possible moment and trekked home to Ohio to be with the parents. We did our Christmas celebration with my bro and his family on Christmas Eve, and it was much fun to watch my almost 3 year-old nephew having a grand time. Although, he didn't seem to actually open any of his presents. Instead, he pointed to which one he wanted and his mom opened it. He then took the new item, looked at it, played with it, and then put it down when he got a new present. He was hilarious though. He was so good for so long....but the pile of presents got to be too much. When his wanderings started to take him too close to said pile, him mom would remind him "not yet". So, as we are sitting there finishing up the unbelievably good ham that my mom prepared, we could hear the nephew running around by the tree yelling, "not yet, mommy" and running as close to the presents as possible. We were totally cracking up.

One hazard about living in NYC is that you have no storage space for anything. I mean, you have your apartment....and that's it. So, I am at that point where I had to make the decree of no more stuff. Happily, the family complied, and I am lush with AMC gift cards, a couple of CD's I had requested, a Chipotle gift card and a Starbucks gift card. I know that that is not as exciting for some folks, but it was honestly perfect for me. And seriously, as cheesy as it sounds, just hanging with the family made this a great holiday. We talked, laughed, played with the nephew, and just hung out. For someone who doesn't get home but every couple of months, it is an amazing way to spend a day.

On Christmas morning, the parents and I headed to the airport, and flew down to my Godmother's house in South Florida. We are now frolicking in the pool, wearing shorts, and having long debates on whether we need to turn on the air-conditioning or not. Not a bad way to spend a day in December. We are actually getting ready to go and catch a movie (FROST/NIXON - which I have seen) and then head to dinner. Yeah, vacation!

I hope that your holidays have been as lovely as mine, and that you are with the folks that you love. Well, I guess what I mean is....happy holidays!

photo credit: www.darien.org