Christmas Eve

It's past mid-night so it's officially Christmas Eve. As a child, this was a big night for me. Not just because Santa was coming and I would get presents but because on Christmas Eve my family opened our home to friends and neighbors at our annual open house.

We started doing this the first year we lived in our house in California. In an effort to get to know the neighbors better we passed out invitations to everyone on our block. Open house, Christmas Eve starting at 6pm. The party was a great success and was repeated each year that we lived there sometimes lasting until the wee hours of the morning.

This year Mom and I have decided to reinvent that tradition here. We have invited pretty much everybody we know in the area, even inviting some very special out of town guests to stay the night if they would like to.

This will be our first Christmas in this house and I hope that this party will go as well as the one that started it all.

This will also be the first time for many of our friends to meet Lila, the latest addition to our little family. Lila is a black lab and a retired drug dog who was in need of a home and family of her own. We were in need of a dog that was preferably house trained and presto! We got a very loving, sweet, beautiful dog that is, in fact, already house trained. She's very friendly and gentle and I think everyone will like her.

I better log off because I've got to get up early to finish all the party snacks and what ever else turns up needing to be done at the last minute. (No matter how carefully you try to plan it seems that somethings are always last minute.)

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas full of family, friends, and most importantly lots of love.