I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful, safe, and happy Christmas. I feel so lucky to have both our daughter and son with us to celebrate this wondrous holiday. (I always feel like all is right in the world when the four of us are together again.)

We have our Christmas puzzle all set up and are just sort of taking things easy today. I decided to not complicate the menu this year so I wouldn’t be stuck in the kitchen all day, so I was able to get some of the items ready yesterday. I always try to incorporate a recipe from my grandmother and another recipe from my mother, to give the meal a nostalgic, family feel to it. Growing up I certainly took a lot of the meal preparation for granted, and still remember my grandmother spending hours and hours getting everything prepared. Perhaps this is the type of thing we all think about as we grow older…

I hope ALL of you are able to spend the holiday exactly as you wish. 

Happy Christmas to ALL, and to ALL a Good Night!

We’re back in San Antonio. As I wrote about previously, my husband and I drove our daughter’s car out to Washington, D.C. over the Thanksgiving holiday. She’s happy to have her car, and we’re happy that we were able to see her >>> although too briefly!

We took our time driving out, which we find is a lot of fun now that we don’t have two young children in the back seat asking about the estimated time of arrival, or the estimated time of our next food break, or worse yet, the estimated time of our next restroom break.

Since we took our time driving out, we visited places along the way that look interesting to us. I’ll mention one of these places, for those of you who may have a chance to visit Durham, North Carolina. If you live in Durham, no doubt you already not only know of, but have visited the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. The gardens are 55 acres of natural beauty. This is a place that should not be missed!

Since our daughter only got Thanksgiving day off, my husband and I were able to take it easy (which we like).

The only downside to the trip was that just after I got back I caught a pretty bad cold (probably from all the people who were coughing on the plane). Sure does make flying seem not so attractive.

Even though we just got home, I’m planning on going back out in late March for the Cherry Blossoms and am already looking forward to that trip!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your day is a safe and happy one.

This is the first year in what seems like a very long time that I will not cook a turkey with all of the trimmings. It is going to be a day of fun and relaxation. As I have mentioned, we are here in D.C. visiting our daughter, who is taking us to a Thanksgiving brunch, which started me thinking that this might just be the way to go! The mundane tasks like washing dishes, prepping the turkey, mashing potatoes, ETC will be things of the past. (I have to admit to feeling a little bad about leaving our son to hold down the fort in our home. But he will be spending his holiday with friends.)

Anyway, I am Thankful to be here having a good time with family. 

And, this holiday reminds me that I don’t say often enough how thankful I am to ALL you Cozy Mystery blog readers. You ALL are who make this place come alive >>> THANK YOU.