Merry and Bright

I have been going around for days with a Christmas song in my head:

Oh by gosh, by golly

It's time for mistletoe and holly...

OK. Not the whole song. Just that line, over and over.

Surprisingly, this has not annoyed the crap out of me yet.

It is about 7:30 on Christmas morning.

Right now I am making bacon to take for breakfast at my sister's house.

I am doing it in the oven according to a recipe I have for "sweet and spicy" bacon.

Then I will go to my sister's house. It will be me, her, her hubby, the 16-month-old baby, my aunt and her kids (at least two of the three) and my mom. I am not sure if my uncle is going or not.

We will eat breakfast. My sister is making French toast casserole using pane tonne. Nice.

We will open the gifts. Mostly meaning we will sit around and watch the kids open their gifts. Mostly meaning we will watch the baby rip open packages and then ignore the toys to play with the boxes.

I got the baby a couple small things. One of them is a book, one is a toy.

I also get to watch my sister open her birthday present. And since I don't think she will be looking here this morning, I can tell you that it is a digital picture frame.

I preloaded it with pictures of her baby, pictures of us as kids, pictures of my parents.

Her husband said it will make her cry, then it will make my mom cry, then it will make me cry.

He is probably right on all counts. Though I might cry before any of them.

After that gathering, I will come home and finish making twice-baked potatoes for the dinner at my aunt's house. I baked them once already and made the filling. I need to restuff them and then I will bake them the second time at my aunt's.

It's been a nice couple of days being off work and I am really looking forward to the next week of being off work. This is my REAL Christmas gift to myself. Just the chance to get my crap all in one pile before the year ends and to not feel rushed and pressured about it.

I hope everyone else has as nice a day as I will. I will be exactly where I want to be today, and I hope you get to do the same. And if not, I hope you at least get to be with people who can make your day a little merrier.

(That is me on the right in that picture. My sister is on the left. Circa... 1976?? Which would put me at about 5 and my sister about 8. I wish my mom had written dates on the back of photos.)