I finally admit to myself that JS is no longer and I return to my original blogging spot. It seems that some of my JS friends are here...yay! Update on what's been going on in life........
Christmas was fantastic. I say that because there was NO drama! Seriously, none. Zip. Zilch. Nada. It was the most memorable I have had in quite some time. I haven't been in the "Christmas" spirit for so long ... myriad of reasons ... and this was the first year that I was. I don't know if it had to do with my office mate (he's a Christmas freak) or just the fact that I have matured (wait, that's not it....lol) But, in all seriousness, I was in a much better frame of mind this year than in the past. I even decorated a bit. I didn't go overboard and everything was down and put away right afterwards but, still, it went up.
My family has done a big Christmas Eve celebration since I can remember. It all started when my now 20 year old cousin/nephew was a baby. We used to gather at my aunt's house -- 12 of us -- shoved into a teeny, tiny house. We didn't care. It was family and chaos and we liked it that way. Then, my brother got married and we added his wife and a few years later, his three children. This year, we numbered 19. We now rotate between my cousin's house and my brother's house. No one had an attitude. Everyone was in a good mood. All the kids were excited about opening their gifts. Compared to Christmas' past.....this was one for the record books!
This year, we decided to do the traditional Christmas Eve 7 fishes dinner. Mind you, I am not Italian. My aunt married an Italian -- they're divorced and now we're all one big happy family. (I'll save that for another blog) Anyhoo.......in my family if you have one of something, two are better. So, needless to say, we couldn't just have 7 fishes......we had 12! Everything was great except the smelts which PopPop insists on having every year -- no one eats them!
The perfect ending to the perfect evening was the impromptu American Idol karaoke that broke out. ALL of us were singing and carrying on and having a great time. My mom was trying to do the YMCA and couldn't get it so all she kept doing was rolling her hands. My nephew was in stiches...I thought he was going to pee his pants. My aunt, who has NO rhythm, messed everyone up. My uncle (PopPop) laughed so hard he was crying. All in all it was a great night!
On to Christmas Day -- no muss, no fuss. Back to PopPop's for a more relaxed, less people kind of day. I napped, we ate, laughed, cleaned up then went on our merry ways.
New Year's Eve has always been a holiday that I don't mind spending alone. I don't know what it is. I think it's a time for me to reflect and refresh. For years, my NYE celebrations were cut short because my ex was a Mummer (http://mummers.com/) and we always had to be home and in bed so he could get up at the crack of dawn for the parade. Regardless, I'm not into the big crowds of people and all of the mayhem so for me, home is the right spot.
This year was a bit different. I took a 1/2 day from work and met my girlfriend for lunch. Afterwards, we went to see "MILK." That movie was fantastic! I have never been so moved by something. All I could say when it was over was "wow!" After that, I went to hang out with one of the families from my church. I love this family. They're all so much fun. By the time the "bash" was in full swing, there were 14 of us and two dogs. Now, 14 doesn't seem like a lot of people but, trust me, with some of us in the living room playing Wii and the rest of us in the kitchen playing board games, we got rowdy. At one point, I took a step back in my mind and observed what was going on -- I had the youngest of the family on my lap (she was helping me play the game) and a dog on either side of me. Life was good!!!! I felt like one of the family. In fact, next to youngest, at one point, said to me, "Jill, you're automatically a part of our family." Seriously, I had tears in my eyes. I haven't felt that loved in a long time.
Finally, at 10:30 I had to hit the road to get home before the ball dropped. A part of me now wishes I had stayed but, that's okay, at least I wasn't alone for the entire evening. I watched the ball drop (poor Dick Clark), said, "Happy New Year" to the cat, texted everyone then went to bed.
Thanks for sticking with this long rambling..........I wish you joy, peace, prosperity and abundance in 2009.
