merry christmas!

no one was quite sure if dad would be strong enough to make it to church on christmas eve and so we took it hour by hour. he had a rough start to the day and wasn't sure if he'd be able to make it. but, thankfully by the time it was time to head out dad felt well enough to get dressed and go. it was a beautiful service and the first time he'd gone anywhere but the doctor/hospital since we went to the lake for thanksgiving. it was a truly special evening. all of their church friends came by to say hello and say how happy they were to see him. it was so touching.

and then the next day, in a not so traditional day in the harper household, we held christmas at the house in houston in stead of at the lake where we've celebrated the past few years since its completion. most of the christmas related items (the tree, ornaments, stocking, decorations) are all stored up there. so it was all about making do this year. and make do we did.

mom had warned ahead of time that she just hadn't been able to get in the present buying mode as things have been slightly stressful around these parts. there's only so much she could handle on her own.

so we got a mini tree from target and decorated it with some sparkly target ornaments. and set everything up in the family room so dad could relax in his recliner. more presents than we could have thought! and a couple kitties in the background checking it all out.

we started the morning with breakfast and a cuddle with the kitten (lily). she is such a good snuggler and loves to be held. she melts in your arms. and if you get tired of holding her, you can pass her to someone else's arms and she won't care one bit! btw, mom's bathrobe is older than me...you can see it in pictures of me as a baby! probably being held the same way this kitten is being held!

since mom mentioned she wasn't doing stockings this year, i took it upon myself to keep with tradition. i love stockings. we have to have stockings. so cvs and walgreens provided the cheapo stockings and stuffers and i even got the scratch off lottery tickets that are always found in the stockings. i can't even remember when they started showing up, but ever since we were little there have been lottery tickets. i'm a sucker for tradition so i had to get those! and i also got us each a powerball ticket. you'll be disappointed to hear that no one won the powerball... oh well. next year!

opening presents...


pyrrh is ever so helpful and watching...

here she is just chilling out on the bar stool. i think she looks so cute ... and so funny when she does this!

dad managed to get mom a present through some online shopping and found her a gorgeous pair of ruby earrings. thank God (and al gore) for the internet!

our little blind kitten (LBK) loved christmas. she had no idea why there was so much fun going on that morning, but she jumped right in and had a blast!

dad opens one of his many presents...

dad got three redneck wineglasses (ball jars stuck to a wine glass base) - apparently it was the present of the year! cheers!

then later in the day, some friends came over for a joint christmas/hannukah celebration. we had the traditional roast beef our family eats and their latkes and other sides. it was a lovely evening with a menorrah and christmas music and so nice to have some friends to join in. afterwards, we all played the dreidel game with pennies. dad was even still up and able to play for a bit. it was such a lovely day for all of us and glad dad was feeling up to being part of it!