I have mixed feelings about this time of the year. It all starts around Thanksgiving. Too many holidays, celebrations and the sort all crunched into the last 45 days of the year. Thanksgiving was, well it was interesting we'll leave it at that. Grandma always makes tons of food and it's all amazing. For Christmas Dawn went to her Dad's house the Saturday before Christmas to Christmas Eve morning. So I took the opportunity to have a vacation of my own and flew up to Utah for a few days. Mom, Renee, Joey and Beth were all coming down here for Christmas and left Utah Tuesday morning for Cali. Utah is so beautiful this time of year. We shoveled snow, played games, went to Temple Square to see the lights and Renee and I had a little photo shoot in the snow. We had realized there were no pictures from the ball of my whole dress so we got dressed up and went out in the snow. It was fun. These little things are what I enjoy about this time of year. The weather (well in Utah) the fun times enjoying friends and family and realizing there isn't much else that is more important. For Christmas the whole family was at Grandma's and Grandpa's house to open presents and for dinner. I can't tell you how many times we played Killer Bunnies in the period of 4 days. When all were in Cali we went shooting too. Grandpa took us all (except Tiffany) to the base to shoot skeet. Again, fun good times that bring us all together. Then unfortunately there is the marketing side of the holidays making these great times seem like they are not as important. I imagine the moments I have had with my family and friends just enjoying being with each other is what the next life is going to be like. No worrying about being to work on time, paying bills, balancing check books, and traffic. Unfortunately these blissful glimpses into the next life are not permanent and this life comes back too quickly. I am going to find ways to capture those rare moments of euphoria we get to experience in this life. Happy New Year!
