Happy Christmas In January

A tree!  Mark had put up a tree just for us!

My group of crazy friends has a tradition of celebrating Christmas in January.  We've been doing this for years.  It all started because there are just so many of us, and trying to schedule a Saturday in December was absurd.  There were always conflicts, and even when people did show up, they had to scurry off somewhere to do Christmas shopping, or for commitments to work or family or (shocked gasp!) other groups of friends.

So, now we just pick a Saturday in January and plan a whole leisurely day of good food, great conversation and gift exchanges.  It's really the best of both worlds.

This past Saturday was the day.  We all convened in the early afternoon.  This is what I saw (above) when I arrived.  There were already enough presents to sink the Titanic.

We even had Santa there - and Barb participating from Virginia via the wonders of modern technology!

There was even an appearance by the truly adorable spirit of Christmas present!



We saw some people we hadn't seen in a very long time...

..we gave each other silly gifts, and serious ones...

...and ate ourselves into a happy food coma.

Dinner was turkey with all the fixings imaginable, and then some.

We had a lot of laughs.

A LOT of laughs.

Piper (top of the cat tree) looks ready to pounce into the red tub while his brother Leo looks on

We even had all three cat children participating.  That was great. 

Thank you my dear friends.  What a fun day!