Merry Mischief

Tomorrow Andrew comes home from his two weeks of training up in Newport, RI.  Oh, we've missed him so.  We've managed to dive into the Christmas merry-making, regardless.  The snow falls have been spectacular and the perfect vehicle for Christmas magic!  I think William enjoys the snow a lot more than M.  She plunks herself down in a pile of snow and softly cries.  I'm sure she'll figure it out soon enough.  She has enough of my blood running through her veins--we like the cold!

Keeping us buoyant through the past two weeks has been my younger brother, Randy (unofficial brother).  He's also our roommate.  The kiddos adore him, usually following him around like little ducklings.  And, he's a foodie (JOY!), with an uncanny ability to create spectacular food and baked goods and messes in our kitchen.  My good friend, Linds, came over the other week, too.  We baked Christmas cookies after the little ones went to bed.  And watched the Nutcracker.  It was bliss!  Men in tights, women in tutus, and Tchaikovsky!  Delicious!

I'm in the process of trying to cross off things on my to do list before Christmas.  We're heading down to Florida for a family wedding on Christmas Eve.  Driving, because M get's air sick.  It's going to be intense.  My mom has been faithfully trying to convince me that this will be a week of grand and wonderful adventure.  I've yet to be convinced.  Florida?  At Christmas?  Really?  But, I will hope.  And drink wine.  Lots of wine.  William is going to be one of the banner carriers--suspenders and bow tie.  Andrew will be officiating the wedding.  My handsome men!  I'm really excited about that.  And the wedding party will be a hoot--this couple is truly charming and beautiful.  Wish us luck!

Happy holidays, you darling people, you!

Much love,
Jules

P.S.  Yeah, I ended up changing the spelling of my nick name (from Jewels to Jules), mostly because the whole "jewel" thing was starting to annoy me.  I can do that, right?