We have had a truly lovely Christmas this year.  I think it is kind of nice to have church on Christmas, especially since it is only for one hour.

After church, our friends the Clarks invited us to join them for what they called Christmas Lunch.  Don't let the "lunch" deceive you, it was a full-blown Christmas feast!  Ham, Turkey, potatoes, two kinds of stuffing (I'm going to be dreaming of the cranberry/apple/mushroom stuffing for some time - yum!), veggies, gravy. . .it was all just so amazingly delicious!  I am sad that I forgot to bring my camera, because everything - the food, the company, the conversation - was just perfect.  We had such a nice time (well, except for poor Pepper.  His cat allergies were acting up pretty bad, so we had to leave earlier than we wanted to.  But even he didn't want to hurry out of there).

When we returned home, it was finally late enough for us to call our families without it being the crack of dawn in their time zone.  I was lucky enough to catch several of my siblings at my parents' house eating Christmas Breakfast (a cholesterol-full culinary delight), and it was great to chat with them.

Here is Brad on the phone with his parents.  After a couple of hours on the phone, we felt better about being so far away from everyone on Christmas.  Someday, someday, we will live close enough to actually be with our families on Christmas.  But for now, we are thankful that we can at least talk to them.