DAMNDAMNDAMNDAMN

The title of this post belays the absolute glory of this Christmas season. I'm writing it for that very fact - because this has been a blessing-filled holiday to the max. So much so that as the days have passed I've asked myself just what could make it better, and come up with not a whole lot as the answer. But a moment ago as I was trying to free up my memory card for my digital camera this understanding was put to the test. (You'll have to excuse my prose right now - I'm a few, em, a lot, of glasses of champage in). As I checked to see if I'd freed up enough memory I hit the "ok" button a few times and bam, all of 2006 Christmas memories erased in about 2.5 seconds. You'd think almost a gig of memory would take longer to reformat, but no.

So, turns out that counting your blessings sometimes means recognizing them in the moment and counting on the power of the experience to carry them on, rather than an actual image to jog your memory. Because I no longer have those images, or video snippets, I'm going to jot down a few so I don't forget what made this holiday so special and blessing filled.

...my aunt Carlie and uncle Larry and baby Dexter all with the same expression of pure joy in the midst of giggles on Christmas eve...my mom and her siblings singing the cherry tree carol...singing 'Hark the Harold Angels Sing' in French for my cousin Nina's mom from Quebec...Katie spinning in ballerina circles amidst the rest of the family caroling...Hanna being the older cousin...the boys running around and dueling...Grandpa Fred (my dad) loving every minute...my brothers and their families on Christmas morning...Hanna and Dexter napping...Camille and Hanna explaining to me on video why we had eight golden retriever puppies at Christmas dinner...me in a 50's apron preparing the last course...Guitar pro and Tim...presents, lots...Christmas eve service with the kids at Carmel Pres...seeing old friends for the first time since '98...carols and more carols...Dexter and more Dexter...family family family family...