Christmas Season 2008

Ron Puts Lights on the Tree
Originally uploaded by CellPhoneSusie

I ended up with a 3 week holiday vacation this year. The first was spent on vacation in St. Maarten. It was a bit hard to return from a tropical experience and jump into Christmas mode, but a variety of planned family activities brought me back into the proper frame of mind.

Ron and I spent our annual day making our now famous (to our friends and family) sugar cookies. I'd acquired some new cookie cutters this year, so we had some new shapes to enjoy.

My mother flew to NC this year to join us for Christmas. We spent Christmas day in Durham with Josh, Nancy, Meredith, Kate, Sarah and Mom. The following day, we took the party to Pinehurst where Mary and Rick entertained us, along with Matt, Michelle and their kids. It was especially good to see Matt, who left on Dec. 29 with an ultimate destination of Afghanistan for the next several months.

The final week of my vacation was spent traveling once more: this time to Baltimore to visit Ron's side of the family and his parents' new condo. Then we finished the year out in Rehoboth, where we were treated to an unexpected snow storm on Jan. 2.

It's been a good hiatus from work, and I managed to have plenty of quality time with family, but I do admit, I'm ready to get back to a regular routine, both at work and with my fitness regime.

Holiday season photos tell the whole story.