the night before

Our family Christmas Eve tradition is to head down the Shenandoah Valley to my sister Jayne's in Harrisonburg for Christmas Eve dinner and some gift opening with her family. Jayne's husband Mark always makes an amazing meal, and this year was no exception. At this point, all of her kids are now college age or older, so its a homecoming for them too. Its also my chance to check in with Colby, the son of my parents' dog Phantom and brother to their Edn. Later back in Winchester, its usually an all-night marathon of gift wrapping and stocking stuffing well into 4 in the morning or so (I'm not the only family member who's a night owl or um, deadline-oriented!) but this year it was all done by 1. It may be an all-time record. Time to go searching for visions of sugar plums myself. Merry Christmas.