Christmas in Chattanooga

So here's the short of it,
We had a lovely Christmas celebration in Chattanooga.

And here's the long

It's a great gift to have a day with no treatment!

We spent most of the day at Mom's celebrating Christmas with Steve and Pat.  We had brunch, and what Mom calls a Lupper (lunch/supper) in the late afternoon.  It was really lovely to sit around and visit and talk and be able to come back home in the evening.  It's been a long time since we've been in Chattanooga on Christmas Day.  For many years, we've driven down to Atlanta for the day or to spend the night usually at Steve and Pat's house - with Russ and whoever was home to visit him joining us for a Christmas meal.   In the meantime, Mom and Dad would have already been there visiting and enjoying Christmas morning with the kids.  Molly Blue usually celebrated Christmas with our resident dog.   What changes this year has wrought!

This evening is quiet; the kids are out at a movie; and Alan is already sound asleep.  Sophie has worn herself out on her Christmas bones and is curled up across the room taking a good nap.  I'm very tired, but not the sleepy kind of tired, so I'm just blogging away and have the History Channel on while I think of how I might get myself a bit sleepy. 

The day in retrospect seems like something happening in a parallel universe.  It seems that there's some other place or dimension where we all are together with Dad, and he's been out to Northern Tool and has something wrapped up under the tree for Alan and Steve - where he's holding a present and saying he really needs some new socks and sure hopes that someone remembered to get him that for a gift.