Holiday Reflections

One of the things I wanted to do this year, before thinking about my resolutions for 2010 is take a few minutes and jot down some thoughts about Holidays 2009. The anal, business school grad in me wants to make a 2-pronged list with one part being "Things that went well" and the other part being "Better next time if." And now that I am thinking about it, maybe a third part for "Things to add or take away." However, as I started to make my list, I realized that my the few things that made it onto my "Better next time if" list are pretty trivial and insignificant. Bravo for someone who is trying to find the perfection in life's imperfections, right? Instead, it's so much more fun to focus on the things that went well! For example, one of the things I really try hard to do each year is to get my Christmas shopping done e-a-r-l-y. This year, the kids had their Christmas lists practically all done by Halloween which left me plenty of time to procure everything. By the time the kids were out on break, everything that had to do with buying, mailing, and wrapping was all done. That left us plenty of time to enjoy ourselves! Here are a few more holiday adventures to add to the ones mentioned earlier.

The kids were very excited about their camp out in the living room. The euphoria lasted until 3:00 a.m. when my son decided his sleeping bag is not nearly as comfortable as his bed.


Here is flag football in the park. Four families and a dog. Kids versus adults and let me say the kids had no trouble tackling the adults (yes, it was supposed to be flag). It may be hard to tell in the first picture, but there are 4 kids in that pile!


Here are the kids at a New Year's Eve party doing more of the same. Yes, more tackling.


We also had time for pony rides, an NBA game and a trip to the snow for some sledding. We feel very lucky being able to share our holidays with so many friends! Thank you!

P.S. Actually, I do have a "Better next time if." I came across the recipe for Cranberry Liqueur in Cooking Light magazine and agreed with them that it would make a fabulous holiday gift. The trouble was that after reading through the recipe, I realized that it needs to stand for 3 weeks! Definitely next year! Click here for the recipe.