Lynn Peters, Fantasy Author: Christmas Joys

For the first time in a long time, Christmas was fantastic. Don't get me wrong; Christmases of the past were good too but this was different.

It started Christmas Eve at my uncle's house. They were doing a white elephant gift exchange. For those who don't know what that is, and I discovered there were several of my friends that didn't, everyone brings a wrapped or bagged gift. Usually it's something that they were gifted and have no use for or a budget is set, such as nothing over $10. Everyone drew a number and whoever drew #1 started the exchange by picking a gift. You open it, everyone sees what it is and #2 goes. THEY have the choice of stealing what you have or picking a new gift. Gifts (for us) can only be stolen twice before they're "dead". I was number one and had mine for all of one minute because it was promptly stolen by #2. So I picked again and the game continued with lots of stealing and laughing and good natured teasing. Everyone cracked up when my grandmother stole the large LED flashlight a second time, there by rendering it un-stealable, for my grandpa. The joke of the night was the turtle. My mother loves turtles and last year one was put in the gift pot. She stole it from someone and her big brother stole it from her, rendering it dead. She was not happy...LOL. When she left that night, it was in the front seat of her car. Another turtle made an appearance along with a Kermit this year. My daughter stole it, intending to give her grandma the turtle and her mom (ME!) the Kermit. Fate intervened...her grandma stole it from her to laughter and boos. My uncle called house rules (it was his house) and tried to steal it back but my mom is ferocious and the turtle stayed in her possession. She gave up Kermit though. The nice thing about being number one is that, since you didn't have the chance to steal anything, you get to go last and, having seen all the gifts at that point, get to decide if you keep what you landed with or steal. I stole...lol. A mason jar of Hershey Kisses with an iTunes gift card. Sorry, Cuz for the dancing Santa.

Christmas day had me a teensy bit worried because the tree was sparse for my daughter this year. As in, there was one gift being guarded by two beanie bears and a few things in her stocking. You teach them it's not about the gifts but wonder if they take it to heart. She did and was thrilled with what I got her. Even when other kids talked about what they got, I never saw a disappointed look. We moved on to my dads where she got her yearly favorite book (The Guinness Book of World Records). She enjoyed explaining to Grandpa how the dragon game worked and then it was time to head for my moms. We were having Christmas dinner and my brother brought his girls over later in the evening after doing more of his family stuff. What. A. Blast. It's been years since I've seen my brother laugh and smile like he did this year. I was snapping pictures like crazy and I kept a lot of them on my phone so I can look at them and smile. I have a bunch of pictures of our girls laughing and smiling as well as my mom and stepdad. A good gag from my mom involving drills and bits had us eyeing each other warily for a while...lol.

The day after involved some clearance shopping and gift card spending, followed by bar food. I love me some bar food. Fingers and fries and ranch, baby...lol. So now it's days later and I'm still thinking back and remembering the laughter, for it was plentiful. And I think, gosh I'm blessed. I hope that even if your Christmas, or Hanukkah or Kwanza, or whatever you celebrate, didn't go the way you hoped it would, that you can look back and remember at least one smile. Or one laugh. Or one hug. Because that it what it is about. Love and family and friends and blessings. And I hope that the new year brings you more of those, because life is better for them. And if you find yourself without one, shoot me a message. I'm more than happy to share them, even if they're virtual.

Hugs,
Lynn