Christmas Vacation

Ahhhhhhh. Week two of our Christmas break dawns. Sitting here with Andrew watching Christmas Vacation with my back to a crackling fire. The presents are wrapped, the tree is gorgeous and Kim Jong Il is dead.  What a holiday. So grateful to have a few more years of our own Christmas Vacations to enjoy! Guess the big upside to being in school are breaks from school.

Andrew finished his last final and all the stress melted away. We started baking, shopping and and movie watching. We went out to eat Mediterranean food. We visited the science center and took Asher to see Santa (Asher LOVES Santa!). We had our Christmas morning together and marveled as our ecstatic little boy played with his new cozy coupe and trucks the rest of the day. He begged to sleep with them that night.

After a sweet few days at home together, we set out on the 15-hour drive to Oklahoma to visit my mom's side of the family. I won't burden you with details of the journey, but I will say this: it was somewhat grueling. High points: Asher being an absolute angel with the help of of a borrowed DVD player, and it not snowing. Low points: driving most of the way in heavy rain and arriving at 4:30 in the morning. Oi.

But we had a fantastic visit! Really wonderful to see everyone. We played games together, shopped, relaxed, went to Port Lugano for their change-your-life tomato basil soup, cooked like crazy people and had a formal Christmas diner, exchanged gifts, took a trip to the farm in Omega, and threw a "Patriot Christmas Party" for my mom's political group (youngest ones there or not, we actually had a really good time!).

Here's a picture of Asher with great-grandad on our last night there.

After 4 days there, we headed to Kentucky on Saturday morning to beat the storms east. Now we're in Central City with Andrew's family and majorly kicking back. No agenda, just family, food and fun, baby. This is living.

A very merry Christmas from the Steele family!

Oh, and by the way...this is our 24th post of the year. After performing a complex algorithm I discovered our blogging average is up to twice a month now. Looks like our days of annual updating might just be behind us for good. Here's to blogging 2.3 times a month in the New Year! :)

Magic

Happy December!

Would it be cliche to say, "I love this time of year!"? Well, whatever, I do. I also wish it didn't sound dumb to talk about the "magic of Christmas," because I think about it all the time lately.

Every night before Andrew comes home, I rush around the house, cleaning everything up, turning on Christmas music, lighting the tree and making sure the house smells like cinnamon. It feels so warm and festive that way, and I know he loves it. The other night, when the classic Grinch cartoon came on TV, Andrew took a little break from studying to watch it with me. We drank egg nog (diluted with milk), gazed at the sparkling tree (during limited commercial interruptions), and basked in the Christmassiness of it all.

One of our very first posts listed our top 5 Christmastime favorites (you can read it here if you want to), and I really have nothing to add. That they're unchanging is the point. It's the sameness of the season's sights, smells, tastes and sounds that bring so much.....comfort and joy.

And I love knowing what the tradition and togetherness all truly center on. How do you explain that Christmas feeling without using dumb words like "special," and "magic"?

Beats me, but I will say, I LOVE the way we celebrate our Savior's birth. It warms my soul and makes my heart grow 3 sizes.