Happy (belated) Christmas!

So, I've been a bad blogger lately.  I've been off of work since Friday, and have just enjoyed that time off with the hubster and our pets.  Low stress, lots of relaxation, and I may have enjoyed it so much that I will refuse to travel for Christmas ever again.  We'll see if I get so lucky.

My family heritage is German, and so growing up we always opened presents up on Christmas Eve.  And yes, we even had the Weinachtsgerkin (Christmas pickle) on our tree.  I carried both of these traditions over for me and Joel, but first things first: our Christmas (Eve) dinner.

The spread.

Our scrumptious ham.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I believe I did a pretty darn good job.  The ham was the best I had ever made, and was slightly reminiscent of a certain "Honey Baked" ham company or other.  I was pretty proud of myself, but I might have overdone it.  I think we will have leftovers for the rest of the week.

After dinner we opened our first gift.  We always got new jammies growing up, and Joel and I will continue that tradition as well.  We wanted to get comfy before we tore into the rest of the gifts, so we immediately put on our new jammy jams.  Joel was happy to sport his new look for you all.

Joel, with a photobomb courtesy of Pugsley.

Joel did great with the gifts this year.  I went to Indiana University, so he got me one of those collegiate letter things with pictures around the University spelling out Indiana.  He also got me a pair of topaz solitaire earrings, and a few new pairs of shoes.  And of course regular stocking stuffers and such.  I really felt blessed.  I think Joel liked his gifts.  I have to remember to take a picture of one of the toys my in-laws sent.  Joel went to Oregon State, and we got an OS baby toy.  Hints, much?  Not really sure what that was all about, but never fear.  There are no babies in our near future.

Our cat, Jaeger, getting in on the Christmas fun.  He just might love the boxes more than his Christmas gifts.

After all that was done, we settled in for the night with a fire going and some good movies playing.  It was probably one of the most relaxing Christmases ever.  I decided that I deserved a break from the normal holiday stresses, and am so glad I did.  Even though I missed family, the travel foes both ways, you know?

Anywho...Christmas morning we got dressed in our Sunday best and headed to Mass.  We haven't been going as frequently as we normally do, and I realized how much I missed it once I was there.  It's like the gym.  You hate getting up to go, but it feels so rewarding afterwards.  Joel's family has a tradition of bagels on Christmas  morning, so after Mass we did our bagel breakfast.  Then, more relaxing.  Have I mentioned how awesome this holiday was?

I am glad I took some "me" time on this break, but I have a lot of ambitions for the new year.  I am looking forward to digging in and really working on improving on many aspects of my life that I simply forgot about once Joel returned from his deployment.  Now that life feels "normal" again, it's time to stop with the excuses and start on the hard work.  Nothing great in this life comes easy, right?