Merry Christmas to everyone

Good morning and a
Merry Christmas to you.

In Germany ( at least in Bavaria) the Christkind, actually an angel send to celebrate Christ's birth, arrives on Christmas Eve and brings the presents. To my surprise when I met my ex-husband, he and his family had always celebrated on Christmas Eve as well, so it also became our family tradition to exchange our gifts at night on Christmas Eve.

I celebrated last night with my daughter and her fiancee. They came over early yesterday and we spent the day together, had a nice meal and opened presents together. I had prepared a pork loin which was marinated for about two hours and then placed in a crockpot with some of the marinade (which included orange juice, balsamic vinegar, and herbes de provence) and cooked for 6 hours. Mmmm, it was so tender it melted in one's mouth. Along with that we had homemade mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, a fruit salad, a green salad, rolls and a bottle of german Moselle wine. Sounds good, doesn't it? Believe me it was.

I enjoy Christmas Day morning. It is a peaceful time for me now that my children are adults. I have a cup of coffee and reflect on the year which almost is over. All in all, this has been a good year for me and some loose ends are in the process of becoming tied up. Soon I will have to get serious about my studies once more. I am planning on taking the GRE and returning for a master's program in instructional design. Once more I will be a student! There are times where it seems to me that I am the eternal student and along with working full-time and going to school full-time it usually leaves only a few spare moments to stop and smell the flowers.

However, all will have been worth it in the end, or at least so I hope. As for plans for my future...who knows. I am teaching this semester a developmental writing class and that experience will in part determine what I will do when I grow up ;-)