Christmas 2010 was great, but it is rapidly receding.  Kate and David got here Thursday.  Unfortunately the weather has been cold and rainy until today.  Christmas Eve we went to Mass at St. Rita at four.  This is the second year we’ve gone to the children’s Mass in the gym.  I don’t like it.  The church was so beautiful today with the life-sized Nativity in the vestibule and the beautiful white one on the altar and gorgeous red poinsettias everywhere.  Evie and Giada went to church with us this morning.  Then we stopped for Mexican food.  We had just had a great Mexican dinner Christmas Eve at my sister Delores’ house, but twice a week is not too often for Mexican food.  Christmas Day three of my sisters and my brother came over for brunch:  your Petit Jean ham, Mary Ann, Polish sausage, grapefruit and oranges from Florida, and my cinnamon rolls.  Those oranges are the epitome of what an orange should be, Janet.  When you cut one in half, it looks too perfect to be real except for the tantalizing aroma.  Christmas night we had our traditional shrimp and crab appetizer and rib roast.  Amy brought fudge and several kinds of cookies.  I made sugar cookies with the girls and cocoons for Michael and cathedral window cookies for myself.  Tonight I cooked a turkey and made sweet potatoes with big marshmallows ( I agree with Joe on this) and cranberries and salad (we’ve got to get back to normal a little at a time) and rolls.  The cookies are going fast.  Soon it will all be over, but first we need to go see Tangled, go ice skating like Olivia, see the 500 Santas at the Arboretum and who knows what else.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dallas had a record high of eighty-five yesterday.  Giada and I had a great time at the park and with the sand table in the back yard so she couldn’t understand why we weren’t outside today.  It is so funny to see her next to the sand table.  She is just the right size for it.  Evie and Jane will look like giants next to it.  We will have to look for a larger one on sale.

It is so true that children make everything worthwhile.  Double that for grandchildren.  And of course there is the promise of a new year. Merry Christmas and God bless us everyone.

Giada has been very good with the tree and all the decorations.  I do have to watch her around the Advent wreath though.  She likes to take the candles out. We’ve had some spectacular weather.  Michael took Giada in the stroller down to the ponds to feed the ducks this afternoon.  We have a huge goose down there who definitely feels in charge.

We enjoyed seeing Tim’s family and Bud’s family at Menzie’s baptism yesterday.  She is a very cute, sweet little girl and seems to be a very good baby.  Everyone looks great.  Nolan has grown noticeably since Thanksgiving.  Allison looks really good, and so do her girls.  The fajitas at El Guapo were so good that I could hardly eat anything at the cookie exchange I attended in the afternoon.  Giada loved the guacamole.  She and I watched the tortilla lady making the tortillas for everyone.  She also loved watching Sophie and Arlette running around being “big girls”.  It was nice to have a chance to see everyone before Christmas.  We are keeping Giada this afternoon as Amy is starting her baking.  I hardly do anything any more as she does a wonderful job.  I will gladly babysit for my share.

I took Giada to the park yesterday for more than an hour.  She just gets cuter and sweeter every day.