Free Bits of Happy "Family & Friends Edition"

Ok, so Christmas was great this year. We had a great time on Christmas day with my husband's family. The kids liked their gifts - the adults seemed to as well - every time I see my father-in-law he's wearing his Fuzzy Feet. My sister-in-law says she feels glamourous (glamorous? Cdn spelling?) with the pink fun fur at the top of hers. We had a nice restful trip to my dad's house. My step-mom made this amazing meal on Monday for all of us - yummy ham (hubby was in a carnivore's heaven)... oh and my step-sister (K - every time I call you that think of Cinderella's step-sisters - and geez, I'm way more evil-step-sister-ish than you could ever be) made this awesome tettrazini for lunch one day that I totally forgot to get the recipe for. *hint, hint* It was delicious. Especially with "special coffee", heh heh.

The kids were adorable. I got to play Play-Doh with Lauryn! I love play-doh! And Brooke, well, what can I say - the girl likes her ham and she IS a ham. She took quite a while to warm up to my hubby, aka Uncle A, in fact on the night before we left, she finally went to him and crawled up on his lap. This is totally funny, b/c Uncle A usually has the kids hanging off him. I've never seen him so desperate to get a kid to pay attention to him.

So, in light of having spent time with our family over the holidays - here are the Free Bits of Happy, Family Edition:

1. Watching Brooke look at Uncle A out of the corner of her eyes - she refused to turn her head toward him.
2. Playing Play-Doh with Lauryn.
3. Hearing about the conversation between Uncle A and his 6-year-old nephew, Ben:
Ben: Uncle A - do you want to play Lego with me?
Uncle A: Sure Ben, what should I do?
Ben (thinks for a minute): Well, you just play... Uncle A, you don't have to if you don't want to.
Uncle A starts playing with the Lego.
Ben (after playing for a bit): Uncle A, thank you for the little remote control car and the Chubby Big Buddy Doll* with the cd.
Uncle A (grinning at his polite nephew): You're welcome Ben.
4. Seeing my dad wearing the hat I made him for Christmas last year in true Dad style - barely pulled on his head so he looks like a zucchini.
5. Watching my husband roll on the floor with his sister's dog.
6. Playing Cranium with my sister-in-law and her friends on New Years Eve.
7. Yummy meals prepared by family and friends.
8. Giving the scarf to my grandma and seeing her smile.
9. Hanging out with my family and my husband's family.
10. Snow in New Brunswick.
11. Having supper with my neighbours on New Year's Eve.
12. Seeing my pal, R and her parents on Boxing Day.
13. Getting an entire salmon from my dad's pal just because he knows I love salmon.
14. Having breakfast with friends every morning (ok, the meal wasn't free, but the friends don't cost a thing).
15. Having one of my oldest pals cut and dye my hair (again, not free, but the time spent with her was totally worth it).
16. Just being home.
17. Hanging out with my hubby.
18. Watching my dad and my husband head out for a drive to the hunting camp, carrying a rifle. My husband said, "Your dad is taking me hunting - I'm getting a 10 minute head start." (They weren't really going hunting.)
19. Having brunch on New Years day with our former boarder and his girlfriend, then sitting around talking for hours.
20. Hearing my sister-in-law's mother-in-law laugh when my husband said it was okay that she had missed the Queen's Christmas Day speech because the Queen didn't have anything to talk about. He proceeded to say, in a lovely British accent, "Merry Christmas. I don't really have much to say this year. Charles is behaving. The world's a mess, that's not really new. The Corgies are doing well..."

Wow, that's 20. All done.

* Chubby Big Buddy is a cartoon that exists in my husband's imagination. It's based on his friend's late manx cat who was called Charlie but soon earned the name Chubby Big Buddy. He made Chubby dolls for all the kids for Christmas this year - he also included a cd of Chubby's theme song.