Blah...

I'd continue my thoughts on the church, but I'm feeling a bit too "blah" to do that today. Instead, I'll share some about our first Christmas in Sumter.

We were very very blessed this Christmas. I mean that spiritually and otherwise. We had the opportunity to visit with family and to spend time with just the three of us.

When Ed and I got married we sort of started a Christmas tradition. We get up late, unless there's church. We have a leisurely breakfast while still in our jammies. Then we open presents. So far it's probably not that different from what goes on at your house. Here's where it takes a turn though. We never get out of our jammies -- ALL DAY LONG. We do brush our teeth and wash our faces, but that's about the extent of our grooming. Then, the kicker. We do NOT do the traditional Christmas dinner. No ham, mashed potatoes or pie. Nope, we eat off of a veggie tray that was made the night before. We snack all day long on deviled eggs, pepperoni, Hickory Farms sausage, a variety of cheeses, apple slices, carrot sticks, chips and salsa, cucumbers and so on. It's quite liberating.

I usually buy the fixins for a *traditional* dinner sometime shortly after Christmas and we eat that sometime between Christmas and New Year's.

Some people may think this is *wrong* or whatever, but it's what we do on Christmas. I like it.

This year, we flew to Thomasville, NC on Christmas Eve for breakfast at my uncle's house. That was a blast! We enjoyed biscuits and gravy, country ham, grits, scrambled eggs and fresh OJ. Then Eddie got spoiled. My goodness. We were actually concerned about being able to fit everything into the tiny plane for the trip back to Sumter. It was good to see everyone though.

Christmas seemed to continue for about 2 days after Christmas because of all the packages that came late. That was kinda fun.

All in all, it was a good time. Watching Eddie figure out that the toys were for him was amazing. Watching Ed share in Eddie's delight was even better. Now I can't wait until next Christmas.