christmas break at the Taylors

Jonathan's last day of work for the year was last Friday, and my last day was Tuesday (except for a half day next week)... so as far as I'm concerned we are on 'christmas break'. Yesterday we slept in until 11am (rare!), snuggled on the couch solving Sudoko puzzles, watched Harry Potter (we are working our way through all 7 movies), attended a surprise birthday party for a friend of ours, and then stopped by to see everyone at our small group's 'Wacky Sweater Party'.
My brother got into Cincinnati last night, I haven't seen him since June! He's crashing at our place while he's home, I am a pretty happy sister about that. He deploys mid-January and I'm lovin' that I'll get to see him extra in the mornings and at night in addition to whatever family plans we have over the next few days. He came home after we had gone to bed (little party animal), so waking up this morning to my brother in our living room was the best Christmas gift so far. A close second will be seeing my other little brother who's currently stationed in Mississippi for tech school training. He gets second because I got to see him in October when he graduated from basic training. Thankfully he's not deploying any time soon, although he did find out one of his potential assignment locations is England.
Today I'm cleaning, finishing laundry, and working on the last details of my Christmas presents. I assumed correctly that my cards would not make it out in the mail before Christmas, and therefore made sure I ordered ones that did not say "Merry Christmas" on them. I know myself all too well. But hey, this way, after everyone is done with most of the holiday fun, you'll get one last card to keep the holiday spirits alive!
This cold weather came a bit earlier than anticipated, but at least it will provide us with a white Christmas. I managed to go for a run yesterday (after having been sick and taking time to fully recover) and just threw on an extra pair of sweatpants over my regular running pants to break the wind and keep the heat. It wasn't a long run, so I knew I wouldn't get too hot. After all, Jon and I bought cold weather running jackets as our presents to each other this year, and so far it's proved to be a well worth it purchase. I think later today we may go out back and build a snowman. Jon thinks we can build the tallest one in the neighborhood simply because we're taller than the children, such an unfair advantage.
I hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas wherever you are on the map this season, and cherish it with the ones around you... family, significant others, and even beloved pets. We are so at the age where we are where we are in life because it's what we've decided we want most, despite others' expectations or opinions, and that alone is worth celebrating!!

Merry Christmas from myself, Jonathan, Lucy and Violet {xo}