Celebrating Christmas

Just before Christmas, my work group celebrated with a cookie exchange.  I felt left out last year when I didn't participate due to our diet.  I decided to do it this year and made pumpkin cookies.  Even at half a dozen from each of us, that was a lot of cookies.  This cookie monster ate a lot.

Christopher was off on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  I was on call so we couldn't really do anything away from home and he was pretty tired and slept a lot as well.  But we did spend some time making Christmas cookies together.  He always loves doing that.  He wanted to make sugar cookies.  I haven't made them in forever because I don't like cutting them out and cleaning up the mess.  I even got rid of all my cookie cutters but he insisted so we used a wine glass to cut out our cookies.  We made a few other kinds as well.  Great mother son time together.

Chris and I went to Christmas Eve service at Columbia Presbyterian.  It was a beautiful candlelight service.  I loved their huge advent wreath. 

They also have a great nativity display.  

We saved celebrating Christmas for when Tom arrived on the 27th.  We had our own little Christmas miracle.  Tom called the night before he was supposed to arrive to let us know all his flights had been canceled due to the thunderstorms they had in the Dallas area.  He was disappointed and didn't want anything to stop his Christmas holiday so he checked with American Express concierge and was able to get even better flights through them using his points and got home 12 hours after he announced he wasn't going to be able to come.  So happy to have my whole family together!  On the 28th we officially celebrated Christmas.  Tom made breakfast for us.  Once Chris got home from work, we opened gifts.  We had duck, mashed potatoes, bacon and garlic green beans and roasted beet and goat cheese salad for dinner.

Since Tom hasn't seen our friends in a long time and many of them don't seen Chris that often either, I decided that I wanted to have an open house to give our friends a chance to see the boys.  With it being a busy time of the year, so many couldn't come and a few were sick but we had a great time with those who came to help us celebrate the holidays. 

It has been a long time since we had the two Toms together.  Tom was named after Tom Grace.  They met for the first time when Tom was four months old.  I promised them that I wouldn't make Tom sit on Tom G.'s lap.  Great to have a photo of them together 29 years later.

Bill, Chris and I celebrated New Years Eve by going to Birch St. Lounge to hear our friend Shannon Roberts sing. 

Tom went to Cannon Beach to attend his best friend's wedding.  

And they had a bonfire on the beach to bring in the New Year.

Here is to a wonderful 2019.  May it be everything we dream of.