I'm sure this has become an annual thing, but I just love Christmas. Christmas Eve especially.
In 2003, I'd just moved into the House That Meredith Bought when my Mom suggested that we have Christmas Eve at my house. My house having the virtue of being clean, I guess. I told her it was fine as long as she did all the work. I'm such a good son.
On Christmas Eve, my Mom's side of the family gets together. It's her sister and the rest of the applicable cousins and kids and all. And my Mom's side of the family is the one with little kids, which is great because Timberlake has this cool village-wide arrangement with Santa where he stops by and drops off some presents on Christmas Eve. (I learned the specifics of the deal when I became a Councilman, and I'd love to tell you how our little Village arranges it, but it's classified.) We'd drifted away from Christmas Eve in the Village as my cousins and brothers got older, but having kids again, it was a perfect fit. Even my Goddaughter and her family managed to come by.
The family's gotten bigger, and it's probably too many people in too small a house. There's always too much food, despite my brother Mike and I trying to deflect that. We started getting the Christmas Pizzas from The Pizza Market. We figure, everyone likes pizza, and we get all sorts of exotic flavors in addition to the traditional pepperoni. And it's always great. I even took the oath of office for being a Councilman on Christmas Eve in front of my relatives a couple years ago.
Still, that first one's always going to be particularly special. First house, first Christmas and all that. It even snowed just right that first Christmas Eve here. You don't get a lot of perfect moments, so you need to appreciate them when they happen.
There's still a lot of Christmas left to go today. More relatives and friends to see and more presents to get (come on Peanuts collection...) but I wanted to take the chance to wish you and all of yours a very Merry Christmas or other holiday of your choice.