Oh! How it dazzles.

I'm a certified nut about Christmas.

Now, I do my share of flapping around during the month of December about how are we going to pay for it and how am I going to get it all done and why is it I'm the only one doing all the shopping and decorating, et cetera.

And there may be a moment or two of the Yuletide blues thrown in for good measure.

You know. Par for the course.

But in the end, I love it. I love Christmas Eve and I love Christmas Day.

I love Christmas carols, Christmas cards, Christmas cookies, Christmas presents, Christmas ornaments, Christmas lights, Christmas ... did I already say presents?

I love the Christ of Christmas. Thank you for saving and keeping me, Lord.

Even so, this was a wonderful, truly special Christmas.

To quote my darling blogging buddy and new friend Donna M., it was magical.

Now, the grands weren't with us because they spend Christmas in Pennsylvania with their daddy's people.

But they'll be here to ring in the new year!

And at that time we will have Christmas all over again, on a somewhat smaller scale.

Christmas Day was made more exciting this year by the promise of afternoon rain (I love rain) and overnight snow! 

And we got both.

A wet slushy snow began in South Carolina around two o'clock in the morning, turned dry and fluffy toward dawn, and continued off and on until about noon today.

It wasn't quite cold enough for them to gang up on every surface the way they do up north, but the flakes -- huge and made of extreme light whiteness -- made it their mission to gently burden all the tree branches with their pleasantly persistent, silent and silverfrosty, featherweighted aggregate.

A most wintry post-Christmas prospect!

The high temperature for New Year's Eve is forecast at sixty-five degrees ... seventy on New Year's Day. We shall see.

At any rate, in all likelihood we won't have to "suffer" long.

Christmas Day began with Erica making pumpkin pancakes, something about which she has been talking practically nonstop for weeks.

They were very good.

After tidying the kitchen, I trayed up my signature cheese ball.

It must've been very good too because before long it resembled an orangeish crater surrounded by cracker-crumb debris.

This young man may've had something to do with that ... together with his twice-cursed pirate father.

(That's actually the second cheese ball that was reduced to rubble! The recipe makes two. The first one met its inevitably identical fate on Christmas Eve.)

Then it was time to set the Christmas table. Because I had two sizes of Eiffel Tower napkins and because I'm a Francophile (n'est-ce pas?), I devised an impromptu (but no less chic) Paris theme for our festivities.

These cherub candlesticks make Erica nervous because she says she "can't see their feet."

?????

*eyeroll*

*finger circles at temple*

I assure you they have tiny but perfectly serviceable cherubic feet (should they require same, something I personally cannot envision because don't they fly everywhere? Or, barring that, simply hover wherever they happen to end up?), floating out behind them.

Erica sort of does not understand my fixation with angelic things, especially angel wings.

I think it's self-explanatory: I must be an angel!

Duh.

Speaking of angels, look at this pretty little red-lipsticked thang!

That's Audrey. Inexplicably, she is single.

One of the great inscrutable mysteries of the universe.

Personally, I think she's just around to keep the rest of us humble because beside her, we look so ordinary.

What say you? Answer freely but don't get brain freeze trying to figure it out.

Erica's single too but she's deeply involved with Josh Groban.

Sorry guys! Talk about a tough act to follow.

Once things were humming along in the kitchen cooking-wise, on track for a five o'clock sit-down dinner, the family began assembling in the front room for the MAIN EVENT, baby.

It was all candle-glowy and twinkle-lighty in there. Don't you love that? 

Me too!

I had to go fetch TG, who was watching sports in the family room. My arm isn't long enough to get a good picture of us both and he didn't offer his long arm, so this is as good as it gets.

He eclipses me, but only slightly. As it should be. Of the two of us, the term lunacy applies much more to me.

The French theme continued as Erica received a bottle of Chanel Chance Eau de Parfum and TG got the new fragrance pour homme, Bleu de Chanel.

Also the somewhat obligatory but no less welcomed assortment of stylish new neckwear.

Ladies, if you want your man to smell divine, this is the substance to slap on him. Trust me.

Andrew got some stuff too. I think he's so cute. Also single.

Javier didn't get anything but he didn't care. The vet told me that with rare exceptions, all your dog really needs is food, water, and love. Javier gets lots of all three.

Truth be known, he has so much of those things, he could stand to give some away to less fortunate dogs.

What we do is, we go around the room clockwise and each person opens a gift while everyone else watches and comments, offers receipts and the random explanation sprinkled with copious I hope you like its.

Well, I left my big present for last. I think subconsciously I knew they'd gotten me the camera but I didn't dare hope lest it didn't come true.

It came true. I cried. I think a few of them cried.

That's just how we are. I love it.

Look at it again. I know it's an inanimate object; I know it cannot love me back. I know it has little intrinsic value beyond its ability to simply do what it was created to do: record digital images.

But it makes me so happy because to me, owning it will open worlds. I want new worlds opened to me in 2011. As much as I love Christmas, I hate the status quo.

Am I making any sense? Please say that I am. 

Even if I'm not, you may take my word for it: that camera is sweet.

Before eating dinner, we posed around the table. Click this one in order to better feast your eyes upon my beloveds. It was taken with the camera they bought me.

We had a delicious meal.

It was a perfect day.

I hope your Christmas was happy too. 

It's snowing again.

I love you!

~ Happy New Year! ~

Comments

[Donna M.]

Even without your pictures, I can see it all in my mind: first Christmas snow in your area in over 100 years; surrounded by beautiful folks who love and cherish you; yummy food; and a NIKON DSLR CAMERA!!!!!!!!! Yep, it doesn't get any more MAGICAL that that! With new worlds to discover, you will be a holy terror on a mission to record it all in digital format, LOL! Oh, and please get a UV or skylight filter on that lens pronto! It protects it mightily from dust, dirt and damage (in case of dropping - gasp!). The inscription on the end of the lens will tell you the size (e.g., 72mm or 67 mm).

And one last thing...

*****SQUEAL!!!!!!!!!*****

['Aunt Amelia']

Lovely all!!! And you even got some snow! :-)

As to the gorgeous "singles," they will be part of couples, when they find the Right One. :-) And I'd say, not a moment sooner. And I'm sure you'd say, the same.

Gentle Snow-covered hugs...

[Debbie]

All the pictures are gorgeous, looks so warm and cozy inside. A beautiful family, home, yard and life. We have much to be thankful for. You will also have years of pleasure from your new camera, which all of us on the blog will get to enjoy too.

[Donna (Texas)]

Just LOOKING at that camera made Me Cry!!!Hahahaaa.....Fantastic!!
The decorations are beautiful as are all the photos!
NOW....it's Happy New Year!!!
hughugs

[Irene]

What a fabulous day, your singles are gorgeous. Love your cherubs with no feet.

[Sue the Hobbit]

That magical snow canceled flights out of NC and so our lovely Edwin never got here. He is very sad and so are we. Annie and baby managed it the next day but no seat left for E. Cursed snow!
You certainly know how to set up a perfect Christmas day. Glad it was such a happy time.

[kev]

Glad you guys had such a wonderful Christmas!