On our first Christmas together my husband and I bought presents for all my younger brothers and sisters (12 of them)at home plus for my mom and dad and his parents and his brothers. Christmas eve we went to his parents house to go to midnight mass with his mom. After mass we went back to our apartment and opened our gifts to each other. We then got a couple of hours of sleep and we up again by 3 AM to start to Medina by 4 AM so that we could put our gifts under the tree along with what Santa had brought. Depending on the weather, it would take us about an hour to get there. I can remember vividly looking at the temperature clock at the corner of our street and Ridge Road and seeing a whopping 4 degrees. It was a tiring day but well worth it to see the happy faces of my siblings, especially the littlest ones. We did this for a few more years and then would spend our Christmases together at home.

We celebrate both Hannukah and Christmas at my house due to a mixing of religions. My favorite was one year (don't make me remember what year!) when the two either overlapped or at least came right up to each other. I was sick as a dog, and my husband had to do everything. Bless him, he hung lights, put up a tree, honored the menorah and wrapped all the gifts I'd bought. We didn't have any baking done that year, and I was better by Christmas day, but he was a sweetheart all through it, bringing me soup and tissues and fluffing my pillow while asking me where the decorations were stored.

She wraps, shops, bakes, and puts on a happy face in the onslaught of relatives descending. She is a goddess who deserves a week at the spa after all the tinsel is picked out of the carpeting and the last guest gone.....