Another Christmas passed. Another year almost at an end.

This Christmas was particularly memorable because of the weather. We experienced something called a bomb cyclone which caused temperatures to be at or below zero for multiple days AND 40 mph winds which made the air temp feel like -30. The worst days were the 22nd and 23rd. We actually lost power for 8 hours on the 23rd and the temperature in the house got down to 54 degrees. That was not a pleasant day. We were actually very luck. People down in town were without power for over 24 hours. Yesterday the wind let up and today we are expecting a balmy high of 24. The crazy thing is that in one week it’s supposed to be in the mid-50’s.

I hosted Christmas with mom and the Dubs on the 18th. This ends up being a tremendous amount of work when you cook everything from scratch. Thank goodness for S and all of his help cleaning before and after! I think everyone enjoyed the food. The fried shrimp, in particular, was a big hit. I’m going to have to think long and hard about what to make next year. If I do anything Italian, it definitely will not be lasagna. Lasagna is one of my favorites, and I personally think my lasagna is excellent, but it’s a lot of work, and I’m not sure it’s anyone’s favorite except mine.

I thought this year was the prettiest Christmas tree we’ve had during our 30+ years of marriage. It’s mom’s pre-lit artificial tree. I prefer a fresh tree. But seriously, why kill a tree? Wasteful, expensive and messy. This is the first time in years we’ve had a big tree. It’s covered with a mixture of ornaments from mom, my ornaments and some new ones. Beautiful.

Gifts. I enjoy giving gifts, but I think there are too many “things”. I think next year I’d like to figure out how to donate to a vacation fund or something for the house for the adult Dubs. Personally I like getting gifts, because I never buy things for myself so I am easy to shop for, and I can truly give anyone a list of things I’d like to have with ease. (Plus. There are ALWAYS books I want) On the other hand, the Dubs have trouble thinking of anything they really want. I suspect that they are just at the place in their lives where they have a lot of stuff and would probably prefer to focus on other needed.

Yesterday we hosted Sue and Joey for Christmas day. I made chicken pot pie. They seemed to enjoy lunch and we had a nice visit. Now we have two days off to do absolutely nothing! YES!!

The Bengals are currently on a seven game win streak. They have qualified for the playoffs, but the number one seed AND the division title are still up for grabs. They play the currently top-seeded Bills in Cincy on Monday night football. It’s getting a ton of hype and being called the game of the year. We’ll see. It will be a tough game. It’s so fun having the Bengals be a really good team. T & L Dub got Burrow jerseys for Christmas!

XOXO