It is Christmas and with Christmas comes the visits from extended family. I love these times of sharing and family memory.

Kristine’s Mom called today from Ilo Ilo and I imagine we will be hearing from Kristine’s sister n Singapore sometime this weekend. I also expect we will be chatting with Brenda from The Netherlands. And my son Joe will undoubtedly chat with his friend Bill in South Korea as well.We are a global family!

I enjoy hearing about the goings on around the world. I also love seeing family, right here at home, we don’t get to see very often. Aunt Carol and Uncle Tom stopped by this afternoon and stayed for a visit.

Usually they just pop in with a holiday bread and pop back out. Mom, Carol and Tom are the last living members of their generation in our family. Mom and Carol are the last sisters from a family of eight. Both are living with dementia and both are easily tired out. Today was a good day, though, and all three felt like visiting. So I put on a pot of coffee.

Uncle Tom pulled up a chair for Aunt Carol in the living room and we left the sisters to visit while we had our coffee around the new dining table Joe and Kristine bought me for Christmas. Mom and Aunt Carol chatted for about an hour about their grandchildren while Uncle Tom and I talked about wildlife and ancestry. The stories of the old days are some of my favorite conversations.

Our visit today reminded me that I still need to pick up some holiday breads and drop them by the cousins houses before Christmas comes. Well that’s a job for tomorrow morning. Tonight I need to do some wrapping of the Christmas presents I bought this afternoon.

WHERE ARE YOU AT IN YOUR CHRISTMAS PREPARATION?