Merry Christmas

No, you didn't misread the title. Merry Christmas it says and Merry Christmas it means. Yesterday was my mother-in-law's 97th birthday. She's been gone for more than a year. Our family usually gets together for Christmas Eve either at his brother's or sister's house. Our house is way too small. But the kids now have kids of their own and there has to be a whole bunch of traveling to one set of parents' to another so we decided to move Christmas Eve to Nana's birthday. So yesterday all the Mr. Honey clan (with the exception of one nephew and his wife who I didn't even notice was missing until I was back home) gathered at his brother's house and boy did we have a time.

it started at 3 in the afternoon and we were back home by 9 but I felt like I partied til all hours. We laughed and danced and ate - my bro in law put a pork tenderloin on the bbq that made the angels hungry.

I cannot believe those little nieces and nephews that I first met some fifteen years ago now have children of their own and those children, for the most part, are walking and talking. It's amazing how that works - especially since I have not aged at the 13 years I've been married.
We continued the tradition of sharing Plotke - which is a flat wafer. You break off a piece of someone's and they break off a piece of yours and you wish each other health, happiness and whatever else applies: I got a great deal of good wishes for my knitting endeavors. My bro in law then had us get together to play 'left, right, center' which he eventually won.

It was the kind of time my mom-in-law would have loved to have been a part of. I certainly missed her last night even as I felt her presence there. It's a happy kind of sad.

And a happy kind of tired.