A Remembrance of a Midwestern Winter

Day: 509
High Temp: 69F

Tom and I returned to the Mint House on Sunday night high on the buzz of another wonderful Becker Christmas celebration. It was so good, in fact, that the heartwarming memories have even been enough to fend off my normal bout of post-family blues. Here's the highlight reel:

Mom's cookies and candies. She continues to outdo herself each year, making huge assortments of delicious cookies and candies in huge numbers. I may very well have ingested 2 dozen raspberry cream cheese truffles. And let's not forget the brownie cookies, the chocolate dipped macaroons and the peanut butter fudge.

Abundant Twin Nephew Lovin. The boys get cuter each time I see them. They are so lovely, and good-tempered. I particularly enjoyed the realization that they are both really ticklish on their backs and necks. The sounds they make are beyond adorable

Best Christmas Present Ever. I am blessed to have many amazing people in my life, who love me, and who I love right back. And while I got and gave many amazing homemade presents this year (honestly, they were so good that this might warrant a separate post) I was most enamored with my brand new Kindle! That thing is the best!

Puppy Love Overload. We drove this year, which means that Homer joined us in St Louis for the fun. Add to him the two adorable miniature beagles my parents recently adopted, and my brother's 3 dogs, and it was a very doggy Christmas. Although it can be a bit much, I secretly love every minute of it.

Family Love. From Christmas day, to post holiday open houses, to movies and drinks at the local bar, I got the chance to see lots of family this year. I even had a chance to catch up with two of my favorite bloggers (my gorgeous cousins from A Foreign Land and The Book and Its Cover)

High School Reunion. Although we missed Mollie and Dan this year, I had a wonderful annual holiday reunion with two of my high school besties and their families, Jenna and Jenny. I got a chance to check out Jenna's growing belly (she is expecting a son in March) and to marvel over Jenny's two gorgeous and beyond smart kids, Noah and Lucy.

And if all that weren't enough, we squeezed in time to visit my favorite painting that the St Louis Art Museum, get coffee at the legendary Coffee Cartel, eat Obama's favorite pizza at Pi, see the new Cohen Bros. film True Grit, sleep late nearly every day, enjoy a fun New Years Eve dinner at Hacienda, drink lots of good beer and wine, and spend a crazy amount of time reading (on my new Kindle of course!)

I feel so blessed to be able to share such wonderful memories, and my incredible luck is not lost on me. Here's to a great end to 2010!