A Christmas Kind of Day

Today was a wonderful day. The kind of day where you play Christmas music, admire your tree, and light candles that smell like pine trees. The kind of day when the sight of wrapped gifts under your tree and cats batting at the ornaments puts a smile on your face. The kind of day when the smell of fresh baked cookies fills the air. The kind of holiday day where you forget for a minute that there's no coating of white on the ground, no snowflakes in the air, and that its just a week before the big day and you haven't even made a snow angel yet!

Yes, that was my day today. A week an a half ago we got about 2 inches of snow. After sitting in traffic for 4 hours to get to work and another 2 to get home, I realized that the snow was beautiful and it was time to get our Christmas tree or before we knew it we'd be headed to MN and wouldn't have need for a tree. (Yes. It really took 4 hours to get to work. Ask my mom, I called her every hour to update her on our progress. The news caster said "It was a day when the morning shift got to work in time for lunch and will get home in time for the late show.") So we got our tree, cranked up the Christmas carols, and decorated away. Finally, a little holiday spirit.

Then there was today. Remembering my childhood, and reminiscing of the holiday baking with Gram B, I invited our friends, their two kids, Son, Doan and Nam's sister over for an afternoon of baking sugar cookies, and the all important decorating process. I can't remember the last time I had such a wonderful day. The kids were so excited (I'm sure the 14 cookies they munched down didn't hurt!) to lay out, cut, and decorate their cookies. The excitement was contagious. Our friends little boy insisted on cutting out the last of the cookies, all the way down to the hunk that was too small to cut. There were so many cookies, but it gave everyone who wanted a chance to decorate a few.

Things have been pretty hectic the last few weeks. Work has been busy, Nam's finishing classes, and we're looking for a home. Having guests over and planning to bake cookies gave me a great escape from the everyday and really got me into the holiday spirit. And what a wonderful way to share my memories of Christmas past.