The holiday season is very much in swing right now. I have the house almost clean for Christmas day and will leave in a few hours to spend Christmas Eve with my daughter and her family.

Last night was so great. My son and his wonderful wife had all of us over for a Christmas Eve Eve celebration. Everything was so lovely. The house was so nice and inviting. You could see all the hard work they had been doing on the house and everything looked great. Patti did a great job on the food. As usual, I ate too much. I had such a wonderful time. The weather was terrible but it was so nice and comfortable in their house.

Their boxer, Hulda, was so funny. She thought it was great fun to have Serif at her house. It was like Serif was her own special girl. Lots of kisses and Serif quickly learned to say "no" to Hulda. Unfortunately, it was a very cute "no" that no one could take seriously.

At times like that, I am bad about sitting back and watching my children. I am so proud of them and the adults they have become. I love watching them interact with each other. Okay I admit it, I have a tendency to pat myself on the back. Raising children is not easy and I know that I made a lot of mistakes but they turned out great in spite of me.

Now it is Christmas Eve. The car is packed with presents to take over to Missy's. All of Terry's family will be gathering for our annual Christmas Eve together. I am very much into traditions. I think traditions are something that we can pass down to our children. A little piece of ourselves that they can keep going and pass on to their children. As I get older, I want to do things that will help my children and grandchildren to remember me.

Tomorrow all my children will come home and spend the day with me. I will cook the traditional Christmas dinner and we will sit around, exchange gifts and laugh a lot. That is what Christmas is to me. My family. Together.

I wish everyone a very blessed Christmas.