We had what everyone sings about: A white Christmas, filled with laughter, love and joy, and the whole family together in one place, lots of wonderful gifts, a visit from Santa and great food. I headed north to New England via Long Island to attend a birthday party for my youngest grand daughter and arrived a week early to help my daughter-in-law get ready for the arrival of the rest of the family (I have 4 kids and a step-son- all married, and 11 grandchildren so it's a big, boisterous, happy crowd when we are all in one place.)

Here's 6 of the 11 (teenagers always seem to be somewhere else!)

Lucky for me, the first snow didn't arrive until after I got there, but it was enough for my dog Duffy and grand daughter Natalie to have a grand time playing in and to make it a white Christmas. The day after Christmas, we got another 18 inches! The newest member of the family, Jack born last month, is a snuggler so I got lots of time rocking with him cuddled against me. The girls were full of fun, the youngest two gave us a dance recital to the Nutcracker Suite, the oldest two played their violins for me and my grandson, Kit played a few numbers on his trumpet. One night the men in the family got a fierce game of Risk going while us girls played cards. All in all, it was another grand family gathering and I brought home another collection of wonderful memories to cherish until next time.