Disconnecting and Reconnecting

One of the best gifts I gave myself this Christmas was the permission to take a true break and have a “disconnected” Christmas – can you even imagine that? ;) Yes, while I did check in from time to time, I’m afraid I spent more time connecting with my family :). We spent more time smiling into each other’s eyes than we did smiling into a camera and posting pics (sorry ;), although my Mom and Aunt got some good pics of us during a traditional trip to Phipps which I will try to wrangle from them. We didn’t do anything special really and yet…that seems to be exactly what made this year so very special.

We had a traditional Christmas Eve dinner of roast goose at the farm (friends heed me - roasting a goose is a lot of work! While we enjoyed it, Christmas Eve is too busy for us to attempt roast goose again ;). Dan was so excited about his present to me that he couldn’t wait and gave it to me on Christmas Eve…and I could see why. We ate our traditional Christmas cake and opened all our gifts on Christmas morning. Instead of running around with a camera trying to get pics, I just sat back and enjoyed my family. I don’t believe I will need a picture to remember Eli so excited for me to open the gift from him and Gabe or Gabe wrapped in his new robe on the couch clutching his Rock Band 3 and saying – “Thanks for a great Christmas, Mom and Dad”.

After opening our presents we piled into the car with the dog (still in our PJ’s) and set out over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house. Where we lounged, ate way too much (I’m currently detoxing :) and played with “our” toys (I got a perfect 100 belting out my Rock Band 3 rendition of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” – yes!). I got to spend time with my Mom and my Grandmother – something that is so important to me. I cooked with them (and took a moment to say thank you for that blessing) and we just sat around chatting and watching “Steel Magnolias”. Mom and I took our annual shopping trip complete with lunch at the Tavern and we “agonized” over a 1,000 piece puzzle that I brought to entertain us (yes, a real puzzle not a digital one ;). I read and snuggled with my husband (who unfortunately got a cold but was mischievous again in no time ;), played with my boys and cajoled kisses from my ever-active and totally precious little nephews. I also took as much time as I could this year to catch up with all of my peeps – I’ve got such dear friends in that town (sorry if I missed you, but I’ll be back in town this year!). Probably one of the best parts was getting to spend some time with my best friend and her beautiful family who was home visiting from China.

While as Christians we do not acknowledge the end of the Christmas season until Epiphany, I did want to say that we had a truly magical Christmas and I hope you did too. I hope you took the time to “disconnect” and reconnect with the ones you love.