Wow. For the first time since... well, maybe ever, I wasn't sad on Christmas!

Stuart's kids are usually with their Mom (Bonnie, who I get along with very well) on Christmas eve, traditionally  coming over on Christmas day  in the afternoon.  Not getting together with my family, or Stuart's, usually makes Christmas eve and morning feel kind of, well... empty and awful. I suppose it doesn't help that , being Jewish, my honey doesn't really get  that magical holiday vibe that I so crave, so it's hard to create it just with the two of us.

But this year was different. The kids were with us for Christmas eve! I was at the shop during the day while Stuart prepared a lovely dinner.

The kids came over in the afternoon and when I closed up shop, we had our first Christmas meal all together. Very mellow, like dinner any other night of the year, but it just felt so good to have the house full on a holiday.

After eating, we just hung out in the living room watching Home Alone and Ice Age.

See them smiling at Home Alone? (I hesitate to post this picture, because I am kind of embarassed by the size of the tv, but, whatever. ) Then it was presents and pie. You know how I love pie.

A while after that, Meredith, Camille and Zach headed back to Bonnie's.

Like I said, it wasn't anything outwardly remarkable, but it made such a difference for me. The next day, Christmas Day- which is usually filled with  so much pain and sadness about my family - was just lovely.  No longing, no pain. Perfectly content. I get tears in my eyes as I write it. Thank you, honey, Bonnie, Mem, Cam and Zach. I love you.

Stuart and I just spent the day together, going for a  drive, stopping at beaches so I could take some photographs.

Christmas Day Clammers, in Osterville:

There were some little rowboats on the shore which had some killer textures:

I love that drip of blue paint.

And for some more beauty in the color blue, a tire:

and a gorgeous sky:

After Osterville, we went to Kalmus Beach in Hyannis. I don't know why, but we always end up going to beaches on holidays. Does everyone do that? I mean, everyone who has a beach nearby?

We just pulled into the parking lot and the gate offered a feast of  my favorite texture:

mmmm, nummy. The way the rust melts into the white paint makes me think of marshmallows melting in cocoa.

After we returned home, the puppies were all up in our grill, so decided to take them out for a walk, which we rarely do.

 They have free reign in the backyard, so they get tons of exercise romping around with each other. But it was beautiful out and we thought we'd give it a try, even though they are notoriously bad on the leash.

I started off with Riley The Chocolate, but quickly handed her over to Stuart The Strong.

Looks well behaved enough here, right?

I meant the dog!

This is what she's really like on the leash:

I know these aren't great photographs, but they get the point across!

This post has already taken almost two hours (yes, really!), so I'll share more pics next time!

But I will just say that the rest of Christmas day was spent walking with the dogs, photographing an abandoned house, more pie and House reruns. And more pie.

It was awesome.

xo, m