The holidays really started for me yesterday as we held the Chapman Christmas at our house. Every year we get together with my family, my aunt's family and my grandmother. Still weird for her not to be here for the celebrations and the pork pie. But, she is always on our minds. The night before this year Dad and the kids made big old batches of sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies. This is a tradition that even though I don't eat either of them I love watching every year. I went back and looked at some older pictures from past years and it's amazing to watch how much the kids have grown up.

Abe is of course part of the family as well and I've gotten into taking pictures of him because he loves to just sit there and let me fire off. So when I laid down on the floor and stuck the wide angle lens in his face he didn't even think twice about it. I love that Roxie just laid in the background completely ignoring me. Guess she is really use to my camera going off.

I of course was the madman in the kitchen. Making pork pies in the morning while also cooking french toast on the griddle. My dad and I had to do everything to eat only the toast for breakfast. The mixture of onion, pork and cinnamon filled the house with the perfect smell. MMMMM......Later I also roasted two chickens and fresh lamb shoulder.

I think my Dad said it best as he filled his plate and said, "Ahhh....three kinds of meat on a plate. This is happiness." I couldn't agree more! It was good.

As I sit here Dylan is on the floor assembling a big star wars Lego set he got and Emily is building a house for a little robot bug she got. This time of year I don't mind the mess the house gets with empty boxes, pieces of paper and random toys. It all makes me smile.

Today will include some last minute shopping, making chicken stew from scratch and lots of football.