It's A Great Day, Foxy Brown!

After six days in the Big City, I'm enjoying the peace and solitude of a relaxing day at home. Foxy's taking a nap on the couch, and Grey Eagle is on my lap--as he's been most of the time since I returned.

The days away were filled with lots of family moments. Farida, Hunter and I drove down on Monday. Jason flew in on Wednesday.

The bad news:  Although we were in SoCal for several days, Nasreen had to work quite a bit of it. She did, however, get off early on Christmas Eve. We would like to have had more opportunities to visit with her but were blessed with what we had.

The good news:  This was the first Christmas in Hunter's experience where he really "got" the idea. He and Nasreen spent Christmas Eve making chocolate chip cookies for Santa. They left out a plate and a glass of milk for the Big Guy and carrots for the reindeer. Amazingly enough, all of them were gone the next morning, with the exception of a few carrot "nubs." And the Christmas tree was surrounded with gaily-wrapped presents. Hunter was amazed . . . and thrilled.

I believe Hunter now has every piece of GeoTrax equipment known to man, as well as a new wardrobe, which he needed. He's a growing boy. And that was just the first celebration. There was yet another later that afternoon with Hunter's Grams, O'Bob, O'Dad and his uncles Richard, Andy and Reagan. Hunter was in heaven because a number of his young cousins were there, too, and they allowed him to play with them. He had a ball . . . and scored a ton more presents.

For me probably the most gratifying and surprising moment of Christmas morning was Farida's reaction when she opened her present:  an autographed copy of Ree Drummond's Pioneerwoman cookbook,The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl.

I knew she wanted it; I just hadn't realized how much. It had been incredibly difficult to keep my big mouth shut since Nasreen and I had attended Ree's book signing at the Torrance Border's on November 22. Farida is an avid reader of Pioneerwoman's blog, she knew about the signing, and she knew *I* would be in the Los Angeles area, whereas she couldn't come down for several days yet. I was amazed that she never asked me about it.

I have to give Nasreen a lot of credit for accompanying me to the book signing. She agreed to drive because I oppose driving in the LA basin except in cases of dire need. She hung around the entire four or five hours we were there and never complained. She had NO IDEA why all these people (and there were a few men in the crowd) would stand in line for such a long time just to get a cookbook signed. She didn't understand who Charlie and Marlboro Man and the punks are and why all these folks would care. The efforts were vindicated, however, when she saw her sister's face as she pulled the book out of the bag.

Farida and Jason had received their Christmas (and birthday and anniversary) presents from Nasreen at the time of Jason's birthday celebration in November. They returned the favor when they helped her buy a blu-ray DVD and surround-sound theatre system. Jason hooked it up for her, and she was in heaven, too.

As for me, the girls got me a luscious pair of slippers and a 50 mm 2.8 f macro lens for my camera. Whooooohooooo!! I've spent a lot of last night and today reading up on macro photography tips. I have a lot to learn, but what fun I'll have.

The last gift I received was one that I would have preferred to avoid. Once again Hunter has bestowed on me the gift that keeps on giving . . . a stuffed-up head and a runny nose. 

He is such a GIVER!

Above all else, above all the tangible, hold-in-your-hand gifts, the greatest treasure was the time we got to spend together both on the drives back and forth and the days spent at the Santa Ana house and at Reagan and Courtenay's. Hopefully it's only one of many more holidays to come that we'll have the opportunity to share.