keeping my eye on the prize...

now that i have sufficiently vented about my holiday stress i will share the things i look forward to and enjoy about this unique time of the year.

-our family holiday card. i love making it. it's really the one time a year when the inside of my head materializes into something visual to share with everyone i know and love or like. this years is all done and ready to be mailed. i can't wait to send it out!!

-the display on the 8th floor of macy's in downtown minneapolis. i have been to it every year of my life with the exception of a few that i was out of the country for. i love it. i especially love getting a gingerbread cookie afterwards, even though they are not hot and freshly made the way they were when i was a kid.

-winter solstice. this is when we exchange our family gifts to each other, and we have some sort of gathering or celebration with friends we love. we give our girls each a few dollars and take them to ARC to shop for gifts for us, their parents. what they come up with is awesomely hideous and hilarious every year. vhs tapes of obscure movies, plastic jewelry, feather dusters, the sky's the limit.


-tucking my girls into bed on christmas eve night. their excitement, utter joy, and anticipation radiates off of them.

-christmas day. we have claimed this day just for our "four family" (as g. says) every year. the girls get up insanely early to check their loot. we hang out in our pj's all day and watch movies and i make a nice warm meal of every one's favorite comfort foods. we don't answer the phone and we don't go anywhere, it's pure goodness.

so i've got all of that going for me, which is nice. and for the rest, i've got wine.