It has been one glorious....fast paced.....hectic......peaceful......anxious......and joyous week for the three of us.

I will have to start with Jaxon and his introduction to Augie's brother, Luca. Jaxon and Augie met in Jaxon's first three weeks with us but now Augie has a little brother. Luca is a cutie pie......he is black with white markings on his chest, a tipped tail, and two white feet. He is a ball of energy and the perfect companion for Augie. But.....his world was "rocked" when Jaxon decided he was just as big as they were (Chihuahua/Jack Russell mix). He held his ground and would more times than not be the one to instigate trouble. Jaxon was out to prove that being small did not mean he could not "hold his own". Well on the last night we were visiting I am afraid that Luca really won the battle as he and Jaxon were playing tug of war with a toy and poor Jaxon became the dust mop as Luca pulled him around the living room floor. I will say Jaxon was not giving up on the toy but the floors were the definite winners of this game. Augie and Luca are both going to be missed by Jaxon. He enjoyed the exercise and some fellow four legged friends.

On to our Christmas joy! We knew it would be a power packed week with gifts still left to purchase, food to make and gatherings to attend. We hit the ground running. Greg and I had errands to run which included stopping to get some blood work done, dropping my computer off at work and finish that up then dropping by to see our dear friend Leigh at our accountants office. We then headed to Crozet to unpack our bags and spend a week with our grandchildren.

Friday, PopPop and I are watching the little ones as their mom and dad needed to work. This provided an opportunity for us to make a date with Robin and go to the movies to see the new Mary Poppins movie. What fun!

Saturday morning my daughter (in law) and I went to have pedicures and manicures first thing. We had so much fun catching up and just being "girls". Then we set off for the holiday food and gift shopping which started at Costco then continued at Trader Joe's and finished at Kroger. Gift shopping was sprinkled about as we meandered in and out of the various stores. I had the day I had never anticipated. It was MY CHRISTMAS gift. All I wanted for Christmas was to spend time with family.....have fun.....go shopping.....cook some food.....and attend more family gatherings. In the hustle and bustle of the day my daughter (in law) and I laughed, spent a few dollars, bought food, gifts and planned our menu for the week.

Sunday we had our Fetty family gathering with about 30 folks in attendance. We had our usual fun gift exchange and food that seemed to never end as well as laughter from stories that today still make me smile.

Monday was Christmas Eve and the day was packed. We began with Jen, Janek, Robin and Barry joining us for an afternoon of food and fun. We baked cookies for Santa, exchanged gifts and ate (yet again). Christmas Eve night would bring a family tradition that Erika has of eating tamales with red chili sauce, beans, lettuce and tomato salad, and chili for the children. Then off to bed for the children after setting out the cookies and eggnog for Santa. The adults were not far behind as we were all tired from running about for the last couple of days. But our sleep would not be long.....because?????? Of course our little ones are going to be up early to see if the gentleman in the red suit had stopped by their house.

6:00 am and we are watching the eyes iight up as they see the gifts left under the tree for them. It truly is a magical time as we watch the smiles of wonder. Our youngest granddaughter was probably the most fun to watch as you could see things entering into her head and it was like a lightbulb going off. Oh well the only thing that could top the fun of watching these little ones would be a delicious turkey dinner followed by pumpkin pie.

You know I cannot put into words just how magical this trip was for Greg and I. There were moments that I will never forget from watching my son and Greg work together to build a fence for the dogs, to the children all getting along without any arguing, to the dogs using a toy to play tug of war and watching Jaxon "mop the floor".

Again I repeat......it is in the Presence.......not Presents that we find the magic of Christmas.