Christmas.

I must say I love Fall...i love when the leaves change colors and I love crisp, sunny fall days...I love snuggling under piles of blankets...i love hot chocolate and apple cider and all those beautiful things we associate with Fall...and with the coming of Fall comes Thanksgiving...and then after Thanksgiving comes CHRISTMAS!!

And I love the time surrounding Christmas...i love all the lights, i love the smell of Christmas trees, I love going to the tree farms...i love apple cider, i love decorating christmas trees...i love christmas ornaments...i love LOVE LOVE christmas music...i love wearing hats and warm jackets and long pants...and SOCKS! and i love Christmas carolers and the sound of the bells...I love gingerbread houses and seeing them at the Sheraton hotel... I love making soups, stews, and chili...and sharing meals with friends...(hmm I suppose it doesn't have to be christmas to enjoy some of these things, but you get the point!)

And for this Christmas we will be going to IRELAND for nearly a MONTH!! I still can't believe it and Peter and I are counting down the days till we can be reunited with family in the Emerald Isle. I am really looking forward to some time away with my husband...and time with his lovely family ...I can't wait to see old friends and to walk through the stalls at the Christmas Market drinking cider and beer...and I can't wait see Peter's grandparents...and I am excited for Sunday dinners and time with the Drennan women.

My first trip to Ireland over 6 years ago sealed my fate. I not only fell in love with a man..but I also fell in love with a country. And to be honest...it is a country I find myself yearning for, which I suppose is a good thing right? I'd rather yearn for a place that we have a physical, DNA attachment to then someplace like Botswana (random choice of an African country...this I know, but it had to be if my point was to be made!)

So the Drennan's will be out of the country from December the 11th, 2010 to January the 6th, 2011 celebrating family and the birth of Jesus.