A weekend of letting Christmas soak in...

Hooray! Christmas was awesome and now we let it soak in.

♥

Good morning, blog friends. I hope this blog post finds you doing well this Monday morning. Me? I'm enjoying a slow paced morning and finding myself habitually planning the week ahead in my mind. What "needs" to be done, the things I "should" take care of... Soooo much to do around here...

And so the practice of yoga presents itself once again. I'm taking slow deep breaths and allowing myself a total carefree week off work. Oh sure, I'll take care of things, but in my own sweet, easy time.

Christmas totally snuck up on me this year! It's the latest in the year that Doug and I have ever purchased a Christmas tree (one week before Christmas day), and I didn't even finish decorating it until two days before Christmas. You guys! Our tree hasn't been completely decorated for even a week yet. I have always dismantled our tree the day after Christmas, but this year is different. I'm leaving it up until at least Wednesday of this week. But it will be down before New Years!

Anyway, our Christmas was awesome and here are a few photos I snapped along the way. I realized later that I hadn't taken many photos, but the ones I did get are enough to remind me of a blessed Christmas, for sure.

My brother Ron texted me a couple days before Christmas to ask for the recipe for Mom's chocolate syrup. When we were kids our mom made chocolate pancakes on Christmas morning. We loved that chocolate syrup and she only ever made them at Christmas time. I love that my siblings (and now some of the nieces/nephews) carry on this tradition with their families. I snapped a photo of my recipe card that's been around for ages, and sent it to him.

We had Carrie and Andrew (+ Andrew's little boy) over for chocolate pancakes on Christmas Eve morning. I love that our family has grown by two this year, and having a 6-year old in the mix made Christmas feel even more magical. Plus there's love in the air... ;o) ♥

Christmas Eve day was non-stop-bop around here! Breakfast with Carrie's tribe, cleaned kitchen, made casserole and appetizer to take to Doug's sister's house for dinner with his siblings, cleaned kitchen... Back to our house by 8:00 p.m. to celebrate with Carrie and Andrew. We exchanged gifts, snacked and drank wine. We loved Christmas Eve night!!!

Phew. Christmas day was for doing absolutely nothing that required cleaning the kitchen! I stayed in my pajamas all day, Doug kept a fire going in the fireplace and we watched an old John Wayne movie. Later in the day I had fun going through the Christmas stocking that Carrie packed for me, and I used those cute little monster markers to start filling in next year's planner with birthdays and such. I love a new planner - a blank slate for a whole year of possibilities in hard-copy visual form. (I'm using this planner for the second year in a row. Love it!)

The rest of the weekend included yoga (surprise). I taught restorative yoga on Saturday morning, and practiced some at home too. I have to tell you, one of my favorite gifts this year was the meditation cushion that Carrie made for me. She followed a tutorial and sewed this by herself. This was no small feat, and the effort was not lost on me since I'm, well, fairly familiar with a sewing machine. Anyway, I love it! It's something I've wanted for a long time and to know the time and love that Carrie put into it makes it even more special. Hooray for thoughtful (and handmade) Christmas gifts! (Carrie also made the strand of mala beads for me for my birthday last year. And the moose pajama pants are from Santa Doug.) ♥

There's so much more but that, in a nutshell, was our Christmas weekend. And now I need to wrap up this post and get ready for my lunch and shopping date with my friend Barbara. We have both been so preoccupied with the holidays that we haven't had the luxury of time together for a while. Look out, downtown Phoenix! ;o) Yay!

Breathing deeply.

Still soaking in Christmas.

Love and light to each of you.

♥