Christmas Day Perfection

I have done the writing exercise a few times. Sit and invision your perfect day, writing down every detail with the intention of manifesting that day as your reality. I love the exercise. It reminds me that I, in fact, create my perfect day ~ nobody else can do it for me.

But this post, is not that exercise. On Christmas Day I realized I was living it! The day was simple, quiet and perfect...

I awoke to the sound of a little voice in a crib down the hall saying "Mumma, Santa eat my cookies? Santa come my house?" The morning was spent exchanging gifts and taking time putting together and playing with new toys (for both for the young and young at heart!).

The dinner preparation began early with mum and daughter working side by side. I love making this traditional meal with my mum. She has a gift of passing on the tradition of the meal while still celebrating that I may add a bit of a Liz twist on recipes. In those moments cooking together, I want to soak up as much as I can from her ~ every story of years past together and of Christmases before me, of what holiday favorites my grandparents and great-grandparents prepared ~ stories that seem to come up when those familiar smells of holiday meals fill the kitchen.

With the meal cooking away, I indulged in a solo run along the trail behind our house. The air was crisp and clean, and my iPod was loaded with my Mexico GROOVE playlist. It was one of those runs, though largely fueled by Terry's chocolate orange, felt wonderful. I returned home to a tot running down the street toward me (is there anything better than someone being so excited to see you, they need to run to you, to get to you more quickly?!? LOVE it!).

We returned to the food prep, to the sound of giggles outside ~ the perfect giggles of a little yogini learning with her grandpa, to "scoot" on her new scooter. Dinner was simple and delish...one big hit being the brussels sprouts harvested from our little garden earlier that day.

Traditional British pudding (served on fire and everything! intentionally, for the non-brits in the crowd:) for dessert.

Once a very tuckered little tot was off to bed, the Scrabble came out ~ as did the razzing and giggles! (FYI 'bof' is NOT a real word...don't let anyone trick you!)

As I drifted off to sleep, I was so overcome with gratitude for the simplicity and perfection of the day.

Hoping that your holiday season, whatever you chose to celebrate, in whichever way you chose to celebrate it, was happy!

Happy New Year!

photo props: TT_Mac via Flickr