Best. Present. Ever.

So I am guilty of saying a time or two - or twenty six thousand, but who's counting!!! - that, "Sigh... if only I had a palm tree..."

Here in Pennsylvania, winters are miserable.  I could move to Palm Tree Land and be totally content.  There is just something about palm trees that make me happy.  Summer.  Sun.  Sand.  Froo froo drinks with little umbrellas.

Joe and the kids got me the best Christmas present this year.  The kids were so giggly.  "It's just what you've always wanted, mommy!"  I had no clue what to expect.  I was NOT expecting this.

I have a palm tree!   In my living room??!!

In my defense, in the summer we will put it out on the patio.  But for now, maybe it makes me happy.  Every single one of the hundreds of twinkling bright (BRIGHT!) LED lights make me happy.  There.  I admit it.  Hey - I have a palm tree!

 Everyone had to get their pictures with it, too funny.  Just wait for our Christmas Card next year, ha ha ha!

Joe even made me a froo-froo drink.  CHEERS!

The Annual Stand In Front of The Tree Poses

 You have no idea how hard it is to get a picture of 2 kids and 2 dogs.  Whew!!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...Christmas! 

Today we kicked off the Christmas week with our annual family get together.  My dad's brother's family (there are 8 kids, spouses, and kids-of-kids!) has a Christmas party the Saturday before Christmas - and somehow we get invited.  So we go :)

The kids always have a great time seeing relatives we only see once (sometimes twice) a year.  We do too.  We wouldn't miss it!

Poor Emma, she is the only girl no matter which side of the family we visit...  These are my cousin's kids, so not sure what that makes them?  Second cousins once removed?  Hum.  Just cousins sound much better!

We did it!!

We've been in the same house for 15 years.  It's not too big.  It's not too fancy.  Yes, I would like to change a few things.  Yes, I wish we had more room.  Yes, I sometimes get the discontent bug and start to look up houses for sale.

But it's our home.  The yard is great.  We love the location.  We know what to expect.  We've never had any water problems.  When the sun shines brightly in the morning, it comes in the big picture window in the living room and warms up the whole house. 

And the best part of our house!?!? .....  As of today, IT IS PAID FOR!!!  Yahooey!!

  I had to block out that private info, you know - to keep me private!

Our final payment was not a full payment.  We only had a little bit left.  Final Payment. Those words sound so heavenly.  Didn't think we'd be here so soon....  when we bought the house, we took out a 30 year loan.  When rates dropped, we refinanced and cut the years in half.  15 years later, here we are.  The final payment is in the mail.

Maybe this house isn't so bad afterall....  Yeah, "paid for" sounds much better than "bigger house"!