It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

This year will be another first in the way we are celebrating The holidays. Because my daughter’s wedding was a month before Thanksgiving and everyone had already taken off all their vacation days for the year, we ended up on our own for Thanksgiving. However, instead of feeling sorry for myself it was freeing to get up late, fix turkey dinner at 10:30 in the morning and then watch TV and eat leftovers all day. I took a lovely walk with my dog and it was so relaxing. Normally on holidays someone is upset and I’m either in tears or exhausted. This year, I was neither. I was peaceful, content and happy.

My daughter started her new job just 3 weeks before Christmas. Since Christmas is on a Tuesday and she only gets one day off, she and her new husband won’t have time to drive home for the holiday. It truly was too late to buy an airline ticket, and because I’m recovering from eye surgery, it’s also not the time to drive.

My son is working on a TV series that began taping in August and won’t wrap until the end of February. He gets one week off for Christmas and New Year’s and then it’s back to 14 hour days, 5 days a week. I can’t wait to see the finished product when it come to Apple TV later this year. However, it doesn’t leave time or money to fly home this year, so all of us will be spending our Christmas chilling in our jammies. This is how I’ve always wanted Christmas to be. At least for once anyway.

Life is so hectic and it moves so quickly, having the opportunity to slow down during a time that is crazy busy feels like a luxury!

So, this year I decided not to decorate for Christmas. What a relief not to have to get all those decorations down from the attic and decorate the tree by myself. What freedom it is to not have to prepare all that food and sit on the floor for two hours wrapping presents.

This year, I ordered everyone’s gifts online, paid extra for gift wrap and had it all shipped directly from the website. So, do you think anyone will be disappointed? I doubt it! We are all going to be able to sleep in, stay in our pajama’s all day and relax. It will be a true, “holiday” for once!

New traditions are a way from breaking free for the past and creating new memories. New traditions have a way of bringing to light and giving us the things we truly need to give ourselves. In doing so, I think we also begin to create and fire new synapse’s in our brains, which some say can keep us young and possibly guard against dementia.

This year, I am celebrating with friends, and when I say that I mean “celebrating” my friends. Maybe not celebrating Christmas in the traditional way, but celebrating the people in my life who make living special.

Last year, we all went to California and celebrated at my son’s house. Instead of Christmas trees, there were palm trees and Marilyn’s, Oscar’s and hikers. It was a very, very unconventional Christmas. Next year who knows where we will be, but in the end, we will celebrate the love in our lives, the people who surround us, the grace God has given us and the gratitude to appreciate it all!

This year, instead of fighting the crowds in the grocery stores and shopping malls, I am ordering all my groceries online and let someone else do the shopping. I’m going to be sure and tip my driver and tell them how wonderful it is to have someone else do the heavy lifting this year. This is already turning out to be a great Christmas, so……..

Let the celebration begin!

Matching PJ’s for the kids and all the dogs!

Who doesn’t love snapchat filters?!!

Angry Birds, Elf on the Shelf.

It would not be Christmas without my neice’s Elf on the Shelf escapades! She found out she had cancer when she was pregnant with her second child. She has been cancer free now over 5 years. Her Elf on the Shelf following is legendary!

Not my dog, but if my Great Dane had done this, she would have worn this sign for weeks.

My office and fellow agents. It took me a lifetime to find the perfect dream job, but I did and it is not overrated having bosses and fellow agents who all love and respect one another and know how to have a good time. I am blessed beyond measure by this group!

Fearless leader, Suzanne. She is one bad ass woman, and a hell of a Boss Lady!

My Australian friends have nothing on me. We too can drink beer on the beach at Christmas!

Addison very first time on the Beach, taken in Malibu, CA

What kind of friend mails a kingsize gift for your dog at Christmas, an amazing dog buddy from Singapore!

Well, maybe just a little, but Santa I can explain!

Burt Ladner is not a man. They are these two amazing ladies, one amazing Elf and a fabulous Mrs. Santa!

Hiking in Malibu, CA on Christmas Day, 2017.

My sweet, sweet friend Jennifer who I first met when I started in real estate 15 years ago. She was my favorite lender, now title company rep, and fellow show dog mom. I trust her judgement regarding my pets more than I do my Veterinarian.

My grown children and I relaxing by the pool on Christmas. Life does not get any better!

Mexican food for Christmas, why yes, when there’s a new son in law on the horizon!

My sweet friend Kris, pictured here in the middle. She is my Mrs Kravitz of the neighborhood. She knows everything and everyone and has the biggest heart of anyone I have ever met. We’ve been friends since 1996 and she is an indelible part of my life!

My British Nanny friend, Karen. My life would not be complete without this woman in my life. Her dog, Bedealia, is Addison best friend. They both bring such joy in my life and I would do literally anything for her.

My friends Helen Silvers and Lori Dunstan. Helen died shortly after this photo was taken. She had terminal colon cancer and this picture was taken at in La Jolla, CA at a resturant on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. She had always wanted to go here and we made it happen. I met Helen and Lori through my Silky Terrier, Hadley, who died at 2 years old from renal failure. When Hadley died, unbeknownst to me, Helen paid all of our vet bills. Helen had a master degree in Biological Engineering, which for a black woman of her age, was just one of the truly remarkable things about her.

She died on September 19, 2014, and one year later, on the very same day in September, 2015, my new silky terrier puppy, Addison, was born. So even in death, Helen gave me her gifts. Whenever I think of her, her sweetness brings tears to my eyes.

HO, HO, HO, Homies!

Merry Christmas!!!

Xoxo