Getting ready for Christmas 2021!!

 The years sure do tick by faster and faster! Here we are coming up to Christmas 2021 and soon to be the year 2022!

Steve and I took a short cut through our old neighborhood. The first house we built and owned on Tyne Lane. We only lived there 17 months, but it was the house we brought Celina home from the hospital, then moved when she was 2 months old to our current house about a mile away. This house all decorated was on a street next to the one we lived on. It's always fun to take a trip down memory lane, even though we didn't live there long. 

We will have a white Christmas after all. After getting 19 inches of snow and it melting. We got around 2" last night. It's not enough to cross country ski, but I'm sure we will get more between now and March. Plenty of time to ski this winter. We purchased cross country and down hill ski boots for my grandson. We had the ski's for both from when Logan was little so we are passing them on to him. I plan to take Evan skiing at some point this winter. 

I'll be making more candies today and wrapping gifts. I still need a few more birthday and Christmas gifts and then we are done shopping!! I don't feel stressed this year about only having a week left to get everything done. Some years its a real struggle to feel like I have it all under control. I think I've learned that the most important thing is just to enjoy being together for holidays. 

My Christmas's have changed over the years. We moved when I was 3 to MN from Delaware. Most of the family either lived in Delaware/Maryland or New York. I don't remember Christmas with everyone before we moved. We did go back to have Christmas in Delaware at my grandparents house when I was 3, but after that we all stayed home. Most years it was just the 4 of us, sometimes my Nana would fly out for Christmas, but that might have been only two times in all the years. 

Once I had my own kids, I started Celebrating with my husband and his family. I stopped having Christmas with my parents and sister at least 20 years ago. I think we had only one Christmas when my father was alive and Celina was a baby even though we only lived 45 minutes away. 

Steve's parents are now in their 80's, so its hard to know how many more we will have together with them. My kids are growing up and soon will all have their own families. Kendra and her family join all of us every year but no one got together last year due to covid. I was hoping this year we all would be covid free to gather. Now with the new covid Variant Omniron, its hard to know what we should do as not everyone wants to get vaccinated. 

I do love that our family has expanded to 16. It's a big change from just 4. I would love to just go some where for the holidays, some where warm instead of giving gifts. Not sure that will ever happen but I'm grateful to have a large family now and will just enjoy the years we all have left together.