This has been one of the greatest holidays ever. Starting with Barb’s birthday and the two “deer-mensional” lawn deer, decorating the “Christmas Hoover” (and getting lots of fun reactions), two very nice days with a close friend I don’t get to see often enough, some shop time and hanging out time with my brother, and having Barb off work for the rest of the year has made it quite fun. And, thankfully, we decided early on that we weren’t going to do much of anything for presents – that reduced a lot of usual holiday pressure and last minute racing around. It was pretty bare under the tree, but the tree itself is a beautifully decorated ten foot monster that fits perfectly in the family room. It was nice to focus on the tree and the ornaments instead of a bunch of boxes underneath.

I had to be reminded a couple of times this year that the most important part of Christmas is being with friends and family, and this year ended up being just that. I hate to admit that I needed those reminders – of course I know that is what’s important, and that’s what it has always been for me, but it was hard making the decision not to do presents. Maybe it’s the start of a new tradition. That, and the Christmas Hoover…

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Our neighbors left a broken vacuum cleaner out by the street on trash day.  Not surprisingly, it wasn’t picked up – and it’s been sitting there for almost a week now – so we decided that it needed to be decorated.

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