Boxing Day.

The day after Christmas tends to be a bit of a downer for some, but I actually like it.  I have felt the post-holiday blues in the past, but have devised a plan to prevent that from happening as much as possible.

Starting on the ride home from Thanksgiving dinner, I go hardcore holiday.   I'm talking only Christmas music, holiday events every weekend, tree up ASAP, holiday movies,  skating, cookies, shopping and entertaining.  I love every minute of it - it's truly an all-out holiday blitz.  That way, when Christmas is over I'm ready for it.  I've had my fill of festivity and I'm ready to take back my house, get rid of the crispy evergreens strewn about, throw out the cookies and fudge, the candy canes and nog.  After days, nay weeks, of socializing and events, I welcome a breather.  There are lots of nice to gifts to enjoy, plenty of food in the fridge and there is a little extra time to contemplate the new year (love those new beginnings and fresh starts!).

We had a great holiday and I hope all of you did too.  Christmas Eve was wonderful.  During our traditional group reading o' the classic Christmas book, we went for extra credit and read both The Night Before Christmas and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.   My son JD read the Grinch's lines while channeling his inner Nicholas Cage.  It was perfect.  And that's high praise. I wore this:

I was inspired by Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada.  See:

I liked it and the pearls I was wearing belonged to my grandmother so that made me happy.  Finding fashion inspiration in movies is kind of a fun way to get your creative juices flowing.  However, the fact that I dressed like Annie Hall in middle school may explain why my house was TP'd so often.  For instance:

 Please do consider your setting and audience.

Christmas Day was a crazy fun blur of wrapping paper, music, eating, drinking, laughing and sweating (because of the ping pong and Just Dance 4).  We ate an hour and a half late.  Apparently, Geoff was torn between his ping pong prowess and his turkey frying responsibilities.  I'm glad we have such an easy-going family.  It was fabulous.

Enjoy this Boxing Day - a day off from our holiday tasks.  Hey, we still have a big fryer full of oil in our backyard so we're planning to scare up some crispy vittles later.  We're classy like that.

gratitude:  board games, ipads, large trash bags, the dishwasher (we are on load 532, I think)

thanks and love.