I love Christmas

    It is six a.m. on Christmas Eve day. I am at the the mill for 7 more hours and then I am free. I love this holiday . I love Christmas. I love everything about it. I love the food, the music, and having family over. I love the tree and the lights.  Mostly I love to give gifts. I am a sucker for Christmas. Mandy balances me. There was a time that I would spend money we didn't have to give nice gifts to the people we love. Mandy introduced me to a new concept. It's called a savings account. They should have had those things years ago.   Sometimes it is still tempting to pull out that little piece of plastic but this year I was a good boy. Maybe Santa will put a little something extra under the tree for me because I was so good. Miracles can happen. 

   In our family Christmas Eve is the big family get together. When we bought our home in 2006 my mom was thrilled that it had a large family room on the back of the house. Christmas Eve has been at our place every year since. The past few days have been spent getting our home ready. Mandy has been busy baking and making her smoked salmon dip. The prime rib is seasoned and warming to room temperature. The tree looks beautiful. I felt like a little kid this morning. I haven't felt like this in a long time.

   Last year was the first year without Grampa. My gramma past away the year Mandy and I were married. I miss them the most at Christmas time. I am certain they will be close by. 

   This morning I woke up at 4:30 to be at work by 6:00. I cannot describe the feeling I had inside as I stood in the kitchen making coffee and looking at our daughter asleep on the sofa under a pile of blankets. She stayed up late to finish wrapping gifts for her mom and fell asleep to the glow of the tree lights and of course to the light of the television. There was a cat on each side of her and they must have been cozy as they didn't even come to get their morning piece of turkey. I felt such a warmth in my heart. It was like everything in my world was as it should be. Yes.... There is a Santa Clause. 

   As I was writing this I remembered that I had an oncology appointment yesterday and among other things they drew blood for a P.S.A. I took a break from writing to visit the Kaiser website and check my latest numbers. The numbers dropped again for the fifth consecutive month. I am now all the way down to 0.29. I cannot believe that after 91 months I am still close to zero. I guess I won't be needing anything extra in my stocking after all . What an amazing wonderful Christmas present.

    As I said previously I love Christmas. It hasn't always been this way. When you live in a garage for three years you don't even bother putting up a tree. I didn't have the money for one anyway. One year during that time in my life I did a drive by at a Christmas tree farm and stole one that was growing near the road. Looking back upon that time of my life truly makes me thankful for the blessings in my life. I don't deserve them. There were a host of angels that brought me from the darkness to the light. I will never forget them. Some were merely people who were put in my life when God knew I needed them and I believe some were truly angels. It is Christmas time. It is the season for miracles. I believe in them because I am one. Merry Christmas. Todd