And so ends the countdown...

After spending one of the loveliest Christmases I can recall, the days immediately following positively flew by. All day Tuesday I thought it was Monday; and for some reason, I reasoned that New Years wouldn't arrive until the weekend. Sometime details escape me...

While a few unexpected, and not entirely welcome events transpired, I thoroughly enjoyed our out-of-town trips to visit our families, and soaked up as much of the Christmas spirit as was offered from one to another. I have a wonderful, big family and appreciate that while none of us are perfect, we are a typical big Irish family - spirited, opinionated, and fiercely loyal. We can have fun, laugh, and tease; and, alternately, debate, challenge, and (unwittingly) offend. We are what we are, and those who don't accept us, well...too bad! I suspect most families share these traits.

To forever commemorate this Christmas for myself, I thought it would be fun to do a countdown of sorts:

Ten: The number of females (young and old) fighting for the microphone during a family karaoke showdown. Some fought a little harder for the mic...and I won't mention names!

My sweet mum...finally getting the courage to sing!!

Nine: The number of glittery, new, Seasons of Cannon Falls goodies that I purchased on our annual girls-day-out shopping event on December 27th. They are positively drool-worthy, and I will be very happy to re-discover them when I open my rubber-maids next December to decorate.

Number of glittery ornaments I needed?

ZERO!!

Eight: The number of times I have thought about taking down my tree, but still it stands. I can't seem to do away with its twinkly presence.

Seven: The number of MEN in the family competing to get their hands on the microphone during the same singing competition...

my nephew...rocking out!

My husband...aka, Johnny Cash!

Six: the number of children my parents have, and combined with the number of spouses and children we have contributed and (throw in my parents) that number rises to twenty-seven when we all gather, as we did at my brother's house on Boxing Day. Because I have never lived near them all, I have never hosted everyone; but I would love the opportunity to do it...once anyway!

Five: the number of Christmas movies we managed to watch over the holidays. In all, we watched Home Alone, Little House on the Prairie's Christmas collection, Elf, The Holiday, and A Christmas Story. Can you guess which one I've seen most often?

Four: The number of deer that came within spitting distance to my mother's house on my last morning there. A fearless, beautiful mother deer and her three babies. Unflinching when we opened the patio door to get a clearer (camera) shot of them, and minded not a bit as we called to them and marvelled at the sweet, little family.

Three: Good things come in threes, I always say...especially when it comes to trinity rings, one of which my husband downright shocked me with on Christmas morning. While I am not a jewellery kind of girl, I do admit to having daydreamed about having a trinity ring slipped on my finger. I always imagined the three stones symbolized my three children. I cried like a baby when I opened the box (which he had so cleverly disguised). Unfortunately, he captured all that on videotape...sooo not pretty!!

More proof that good things come in threes:

Three pretty maids, born all in a row. More like sisters than cousins.

Two: Number of minutes it took for this little man to find an empty box to curl up in on Christmas morning:

One: the number of people in my house who needed to be awakened on Christmas morn:

All in all, it was over too quickly, I didn't see enough of my family, and yet, I am ready for the New Year to begin. I look forward to a new project my husband and I have taken on, and we are looking forward to flexing our reno skills on a larger scale. I make few resolutions, as I am always a horrible flop when it comes to that, but I did have my husband rolling in laughter with one of them. We were sipping coffee in a local shop when I announced that this year I was going to start watching ELLEN's talk show whenever I could. He whooped at that one: some vow to change their life, I am content with getting a few more laughs in my day.

Oh, and a bit more exercise wouldn't hurt either!!

Happy New Year everyone!!!