Category: bliss

Bliss Insurance

Health insurance may not sound like an incredibly blissful subject and, to be honest, until recently it wasn’t one that I that I paid a lot of attention to. We’ve always been fortunate to have had jobs that have offered insurance and we’ve always paid our premiums, used it as needed, and most years realized that if we’d have had to, we could have paid our doctor’s bills ourselves because we didn’t spend a lot on healthcare.

I realized that had changed last year when John had his heart attack. The bills for his heart attack and after care were over $150K, more than our combined annual income. There is no way that we could have paid those bills ourselves and we would have lost our house, been pushed into bankruptcy, or worse. Our share of the bills is only about $2,500 and although that will cause a little bit of heartburn (pun intended), it’s certainly a loss less stressful than thinking about being $150K in debt.

A project I’m working on made me privy to the information that my company is a self insurer, which means that they pay Blue Cross Blue Shield to administer the insurance, but the company itself actually ponies up for claims. That means that my company wrote a check for over $100K to pay for my husband’s health. Since it was a benefit, I wasn’t taxed on the money and the company just wrote the check once BCBS verified it was a valid claim.

The experience has made me seriously rethink my thoughts about corporate America as I used to view corporate executives as greedy thugs out only for themselves. However, realizing that because of corporate policies, my husband’s health, and our financial health, was protected, made me rethink my thoughts on corporate ethics. It also made me realize that even though my company has frozen benefits and given paltry benefits, I’m getting a lot more out of the deal than I thought.

Like most Americans, I’m struggling to make sure my bills get paid on time, it is pretty blissful to know that I’m not going to be even more in debt than I already am.

Cooking Up Bliss

Secretly I’ve always loved to cook as there is something magickal about mixing up ingredients and creating something special. However, my inner domestic goddess was always doing battle with the person I thought I wanted to be as I NEVER wanted to be labeled a housewife and if I fessed up to loving to cook, someone would label me a housewife.

It’s only been in the last few years that I’ve realized that having a job in corporate America and loving to cook are not mutually exclusive. I have a couple of people to thank for that light bulb moment. The person who gets the most credit is one of my fellow manager’s at work. She bakes like no one’s business and her desserts would be worthy of shelf space at any bakery in the world. She’s also a kick butt type of gal who is former military intelligence. No one would ever mistake her for a housewife. After chowing down on a few of her incredibly delectable treats, I realized that maybe it really is okay to cook in the kitchen and in the boardroom.

Since John has his heart attack, we’ve gotten serious about what we eat and it was mind blowing to read the labels on prepared food and see exactly how much sodium they contain. I realized that if we wanted to eat well and not feel deprived, we’d have to get serious about cooking our own food most nights. I invested in a Heart Healthy Cook Book and between that and the Internet, we’ve been eating healthy and eating well.

I’m also rediscovering my love of cooking and realizing that being in the kitchen surrounded by the wonderful smells of food makes me incredibly happy. I used to dread coming home from work and having to figure out what to fix for dinner because it was just one more chore on my checklist. However, I’ve recently reclaimed that time as my buffer between work and home and now I come home, put my apron on, put on my cooking shoes, turn on some Motown and fix up some wonderfully flavorful (and mostly heart healthy food). While the food is cooking, I do a load of dishes or tidy up and by the time dinner is ready, I’m out of the work zone and into the home zone.

Rediscovering my inner domestic goddess is giving me a deeply satisfying kind of bliss that comes from accepting and acknowledging my whole self and not just the workaday self who heads off to the office to play hardball with the guys.

Bliss Queens

Julie Powell got bad press by Julia Child as the cooking queen proclaimed she thought Julie’s blog, which chronicled her efforts to cook her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking a stunt. I have to admit that Julia’s comments and my own jealously over her getting a book deal while I struggle to get readers tainted my view of her blog and made me reluctant to get sucked into all the hype over Julia and Julie. Add to that the reviews that said Julia’s portions of the movie were amazing while Julie’s portions weren’t up to par had me convinced that the movie wasn’t worth a trip to the video store.

I broke down and rented the movie when I found it in a RedBox for $1 and my opinion completely changed once I watched the movie as I realized that Julie didn’t start out intending to get rich from her blog, she started it for the same reason a lot of us start blogs: as a way to share our lives and to write about what we want to write about instead of what corporate slugs want us to waste our words on. At the time, her life was extra stressful as she was working for an agency that handled calls from 9/11 victims. Cooking and blogging let her escape from the pressure cooker every evening, gave her something to look forward to, and gave her a way to stay on track. Did she harbor dreams of striking it rich with her blog? I can’t say, but if she did she wouldn’t be alone as deep down all of us want our blogs to be recognized for the amazing works of literature they are.

Having read Julia’s memoir, My Life in France, just a few weeks ago, I was expectedly nervous about how the big screen version would compare to the printed page and, surprisingly enough, I wasn’t disappointed. Meryl Street’s portrayal was as true to the book as you can get in a 2 hour movie. I felt her humanity and her passion jump off the screen and into my heart and left the theater feeling ready to go search for some grainy television footage of Julia’s famous cooking shows.

I haven’t read Julie’s book so I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I found myself rooting for her as I watched the show. She came across as someone who started the grand adventure to cook all of Julia’s recipes in a year as a way to prove to herself that she could start and finish something. It’s funny because at the start of the movie, her mom calls her and tells her that she’s in over her head and that she should just quit. Mom chimes in again toward the middle of the movie and tells her that she should finish what she started. It’s moments like this that ground the movie in real life and make Julie seem like the girl next door.

Other moments hit home for me too especially the honesty in her husband’s voice as he told her that he regretted suggesting the blog and that since she started it she’d been self absorbed and it was all about “me, me, me.” Unfortunately, my hubby has also told me that I’m somewhat self absorbed in my blog and that it was all about “me, me, me.” Hmm..maybe that’s a theme with bloggers we write about the things that are closest to our hearts. Our blogs are a way of communicating and sharing who we are.

After watching the movie, I searched out Julie’s blog and in its pages, I found the same honesty that pervaded the movie. Her blog was a way for her to share herself and her life with the world. Did she get excited about having followers and having the New York Times come calling? Of course she did, every writer in the world gets excited about the thought that someone out there is reading what they wrote and cares enough about it to comment on it. My deepest dream is that someday I’ll write a script about finding my bliss and people will watch it and something will resonate deep within them. That’s the bliss of writing, it’s about touching other people’s lives with your words and, hopefully, helping them understand you and themselves just a little bit better.

Now as to the self absorbed comments, I am going to try to include some posts this year about things you can to do find your bliss.

Until next time, Bon Appetit (okay, I couldn’t resist).

The Bliss of the Grape


Like most normal kids, I “learned” to drink in college and after more than a few nasty hangovers, I gave up alcohol completely for a while as a realized that there was more to life than my next glass of hooch and that I felt a lot better when I wasn’t going to class hungover.

My drinks of choice in my college years were cheap beer, cheaper champagne, and the occasional strawberry daiquiri. Since drinking in college meant drinking in excess, I never gave myself a chance to realize that stopping at one or two gives you a wonderfully relaxed feeling without the hangover.
Graduating meant moving into the workforce and mixing with real live grownups who were able to go out and have one or two without closing the bar down or worshipping the porcelain god the next morning. I decided that maybe I could dip my toes back into the drinking pool and learn to drink responsibly. The first thing I needed to do was ditch the cheap college booze and learn to appreciate the good stuff.
For me the good stuff is always the sweet drinks that taste good going down and give you a wonderfully mellow feeling. You can keep the hard and nasty stuff that burns going down and tastes like paint thinner (and I learned the hard way, that some of the most expensive stuff also tastes the worst). I discovered Butterscotch schapps while living on Okinawa and for a while it was my drink of choice and even today I’ll sometimes order a buttery nipple (butterscotch schapps mixed with Bailey’s). Even though schapps is supposedly a German drink, when I was in Germany, my German friends were perplexed by my explanation of Butterscotch schnapps. When I finally tracked some down for them to taste, they wrinkled up their noses and told me that this wasn’t real schnapps.
Wine had always struck me as the ultimate grownup drink, something that sophisticated people sipped out of stemmed glasses while looking tremendously blaise about all that life had to offer. I tried wine a couple of times over the past twenty years, but no matter how expensive it was, it always struck me as one step removed from vinager in taste and smell. I tried the cheap stuff, I tried the expensive stuff, I tried red stuff, and I tried white stuff and I didn’t like any of it. That is until I discovered Moscato wines. They have this incredibly sweet and light taste that is perfect for sipping in the evenings. Technically they are dessert wines, but I’ll have a glass with anything and it always seems to taste right.
Moscato wines are made with muscat grapes (although as far as I can tell the terms Moscato and Muscat are often used interchangeably). These grapes are grown in vineyards around the world and are prized for their sweet and floral nature. They are used to make wines, raisins, and other yummy treats. I’ve tried a wide variety of Moscato wines and some of my favorites are the Moscato Allegro from Martin Weyrich winery in California and Sutter Home”s Moscato. Both of those are light and flavorful with next to no bite. Right now I’m drinking Bartenura Moscato D Asti. It has an incredible flavor and one glass gets me to mellow without going past that nice relaxed stage.
It’s not only pure Moscato’s that have woven their spell around me, I’m also learning to appreciate the sweetness of mixed wines like those they make at Georgia Wines. My favorites are those made with Muscadine grapes. According to the Georgia Wines website, Muscadines are “Different than most grapes in that they do not grow in a bunch. They grow two to three together on the vine, are thick-skinned, pulpy, and have large seeds. Their flavor is phenomenal, and their aroma is heavenly. The Muscadine grape makes a most wonderfully delicious sweet wine: incomparable and delectable.” After tasting a few of the wines made with these incredible grapes, I’d have to agree. My two favorites are Georgia on My Mind which is made from a heavenly mix of peaches and Muscadines and Chattanooga Blush. Both of these are sweet and fruity and incredible. Whenever I have a chance, I take a quick trip to Georgia Wines and pick up a bottle or two of these delectable drinks.
I may never be the consumate cosmopolitan sophisticate who goes to wine and cheese tastings on a regular basis, but I’m glad I’ve found my bliss of the vine and am at least able to understand what the attraction is.

Shoe Bliss

The stereotype would have us believe that all women are mad for shoes and that we buy them indiscriminately and life seems to mirror the image with Imelda Marcos’ 2,700 pairs of shoes making headlines and Carrie’s shoes on Sex in the City having as much of a role in the show as her three cohorts. As much as I dislike stereotyping this is one fable that bears some weight as it seems that most woman secretly lusts for Jimmy Choos. I can’t speak for every woman, but here’s some of the reasons that I find bliss in my soles:

Sex Appeal
Heels make our legs look sexy, but more importantly they make us feel sexy. Despite knowing that our feet will be aching later, there’s something empowering and sexy about slipping on a four inch (or more) pair of heels. Heels put a sexy little kick in our step and convince us that no matter what our physical flaws are, we look terrific. There’s a reason that stilettos are called “come F* me heels” and that’s because women who strap on the heels are out for seduction. Heels alter the way we walk and put a wiggle in our hips that makes us feel incredible. I remember the sexiest outfit I ever wore was a t-shirt and a pair of four inch heels. Since my kids and mom read my blog, I won’t go into details but let me assure you it was a night to remember.

Powerful Confidence
The right shoes make us feel powerful and as if we can kick butt and take names. You ever notice how the heroines have to do everything the guys do and do it in four inch heels? They say women are the weaker sex, but personally I can’t imagine Bond taking out the bad guys while wearing stilettos, but Charlie’s Angels did it and made it look easy. There’s not a woman in the business world who wouldn’t confess that at least once in her career she didn’t strap on the stilettos for an extra boost of power while doing battle with the big dogs. Heels give us a boost of confidence that assure us we can do no wrong.

Mood Setting
The right pair of shoes can set any mood you want to set. I just bought a pair of Mudd sandals that make me feel sexy and fun all at the same time. There’s something empowering about slipping them out and striding around the house that makes me feel like Sandy at the end of Grease when she’s dancing around in her tight black cat suit. I don’t have the figure for the black cat suit, but I have the shoes and they make me feel sexy and empowered. Weirdly enough, they’re the shoes I’ve chosen to wear while cooking and somehow they make me feel sexy and domestic all at the same time. I know that’s kinda strange, but I can’t help it…it’s the shoes. On the flip side, when I get up in the morning and lace up my sneakers, I know it’s time to get down to busy and start cleaning the house or working on whatever other chores I have to complete for the day.

Flexibility
Shoes make the outfit and the same jeans and top that look comfortable when paired with loafers, can look killer sexy when paired with the right pair of shoes. Slipping on a different pair of shoes can change our mood and make us go from sexy to silly to practical.

There’s no telling why women are hardwired to love their shoes, but as long as I’m a girl I’m going to be shopping for bliss at the nearest shoe store.

French Bliss

I picked up a copy of My Life in France yesterday at Barbara’s Bookstore at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. I had some time to kill while waiting for John’s surgery to be done and after all the hype I’d heard about Julia and Julie, I was curious to read about the real Julia Child. At the time, all that I knew about Julia Child was that she cooked French food, had been in the OSS, and had a TV cooking show.

My earliest impressions of Julia Child came from coming across her TV show on PBS when I was a child and, sad to say, from the Saturday Night Live skits. I hate to admit it, but somehow I gathered that she was rather opinionated and snobbish and not someone I’d like to know. I’m not exactly sure how I drew that conclusion, but suffice to say she wasn’t someone who interested me until the whole Julia and Julie thing came about.

Picking up the book, with the picture of Meryl Street as Julia on the cover and thumbing through it, I was impressed by the humlity and humanity I saw reflected on the pages. I started reading it when I got back to John’s room and I found myself getting drawn into Julia’s foodie adventures. My mouth watered as she described the butter laden treats she learned to cook in France, I felt saddened to read about her having to leave her beloved France, and I cheered for her as she found a publisher who actually got what she was trying to say.

I recognized my own opinionated nature and love of travel in her stories and I was charmed as she described shopping in markets and learning to cook from scratch. I empathized with her in her search for herself in Paris. For although, I was the one with the career while John stayed home, I know how difficult it was for him on Okinawa. It’s hard to be the one following your spouse around to the far corners of the earth. I especially empathized with how hard it must have been for her to go from having a career of her own with the OSS (the precursor to the CIA) to being a dependent spouse.

Some of the recipes Julia cooked, such as the beef bourguignon look as if they would taste incredible, but some of the others like the aspics I’m not sure I could ever bring myself to try. I know that someday soon, I’ll be getting a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and expiremienting with some of the recipes she cooked. Even if I never become an international celebrity or public foodie, I’ll at least have the bliss of creating and eating wonderful food.

Is Anybody Out there?

Okay, like most writers I have to admit that I’m deeply insecure, some would say neurotic and it drives me absolutely nuts to go day after day with no evidence that anyone other than my family is reading my blog. I get amazingly excited when I see that my stats are up and deeply depressed on the days I check the stats and see that absolutely no one has found my blog. That’s a depressing feeling for a writer who craves a feeling of connection and wants to change the world through her words. Deep down, I harbor dreams of getting those calls from New York editors who think my blog is the coolest thing ever and want to offer me a bazillion dollar book deal. That’s never going to happen if no one is reading my blog.

On the days when I start to get depressed and wonder if it’s worth it to even keep writing this blog, I realize that at the end of the day, I started it as a way to chronicle my journey to bliss. It’s about finding my own path to bliss and maybe inspiring other people by my journey. My blog wasn’t started as a way to get publicity, to drum up readers for a possible book deal, or anything else.

My blog is about my journey to find bliss, balance, and even meaning in the ordinary events of life. My Everyday Bliss is about stopping to smell the flowers, about looking for the good in the world, and about being open to having bliss come into my life. Maybe my blog is self absorbed at times, maybe no one wants to read about my journey to balance and bliss, maybe no one cares about how awesome my kids are, about how much I learned from my dad, or about my heartfelt plea to find bliss in the world.

Maybe at the end of the day, I have to be satisfied knowing that my life has changed because of this blog and that on the days when I don’t blog and focus on finding bliss, I’m not living life to the fullest. And if my blog only changes my life, than it’s worth the effort because I’m worth the effort.

2009: Lessons Learned

There’s something magickal about a new year that lets you symbolically wipe the slate clean and start all over again. However, we cannot only look forward without first looking back over the year that was for as Julia Alvarez famously said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I started off recapping the year that was, but then I realized that I was doing a repeat of our Christmas letter so I erased it all and started over to focus more on the lessons I’ve learned this year than on the events themselves. There are lots of lessons to be learned in life and sometimes it’s the painful ones that teach you the most. Here’s my roundup of the lessons I’ve learned this year, in no particular order:

Karma Works–I’ve always believed intellectually in Karma, but struggled to see the real world results until this year. I spent 15 months of my life working with a consulting firm that was struggling in every sense of the word. They had some tremendous consultants, but they could not deliver from a corporate perspective and their management was incompetent. Toward the middle of the year, this company ended up going belly up. I’m in a situation right now where I’m waiting for Karma to work and I have to keep reminding myself to take deep breaths because it will work out eventually, which leads me to my next lesson.

You can’t force Karma–No matter how much time I spend bitching and whining about the people who deserve to have karma smack them upside the head, I can’t make Karma happen any faster and all my bitching and whining does is come back and bite me. I have to take deep breaths and let Karma work in its own time.

Bad bosses can make your life a living hell–I’ve been fortunate in my 40+ years on the planet to have had incredibly awesome bosses who have nurtured me and supported me and helped me grow and develop. I’ve written and deleted about three paragraphs about the boss from hell, because I have to be careful what I write. Suffice to say that bosses who are jealous of you, who want you to be a suckup, and who are incompetent do exist and if you are unfortunate enough to work for one your life will be a living hell until you escape.

People will support and take care of competent people–Despite having the boss from hell, I was incredibly fortunate this year that several people who do appreciate my talents and abilities helped me to escape into a better position.

Eating and Exercise really do matter–John’s heart attack was a wake up call for all of us and we’ve been all working very hard to change our diets and start exercising more. It’s really hard to make some of the changes we’ve been making, but we’re persevering.

Being Self Possessed is one of the hardest traits to acquire–I’ve always admired people who are calm, cool, collected and in control of their emotions. I admire them because they seem to glide along on top of things and not let the little things bother them. I, on the other hand, tend to go into spirals where I let little things get to me and I obsess over them even when obsessing over them is like hitting my head against a brick wall. I guess I think if I keep hitting the wall, things will eventually change. I’m not sure how to become self possessed and not let myself be controlled by my emotions.

Companies are all about what have you done for me lately–I have always delivered on every project I’ve undertaken and I’ve sacrificed and done what needed to be done to get the work done, but companies don’t appreciate it. It is all about how much more you can do.

Corporate America Really SUCKS–Okay, I’ve known this one for most of my life, but I let myself get suckered in by the dollars and the supposed camaraderie. It isn’t for real and it’s all about how much the company can bleed you dry. The term companies have coined for this is “churn ’em and burn ’em” and that’s what it’s all about: working people until they burn out.

I put way too much energy into stuff that’s not important–You would have thought that by now I would have learned my lesson about not working extra hours and not giving up family time for a job, but no I’m still doing it. I need to figure out how to accept that a job is just a job and all I owe them is 40 hours and not my heart and soul.

Life Goes On–My life changed when my dad died last year, but life went on. The sun rose every morning and set every evening. Life changed, but it went on.

My real passion is empowering people–That’s the thing that makes me excited and I need to figure out how to take my passion and turn it into an income.

Those are the big lessons I learned this year. My next challenge is figuring out how to put those to work for me to change my life for the better.

Cocooning Bliss

I’ve always been a workaholic who has always believed that if you are not productive 120 percent of the time you’re a slacker. And to top it off, productive for the most part has meant being “mind productive” and not “physically productive.” After reading that a lot of you are probably going, what the heck is she talking about. Well, simply put I’ve always valued writing, reading, calculating, and those types of “mind” activities over physical activities like cleaning the house and exercising. If I wasn’t involved in “mind” activities, I’ve been on the go traveling, running to the store, etc., etc. etc. I’d never learned how blissful puttering around the house can actually be.

Working for a Japanese company means that I have a winter break from 12/24 through 1/4 this year and after finishing our last minute Christmas shopping on the 24th, I’ve been spending the last few days puttering. I’ve slept late, I’ve washed dishes, I’ve taken naps, in short I’ve just let my body adjust to a slower pace and I’m amazed at how rested I feel. We also got a Wii Fit for Christmas and we’re all taking turns playing and I’m amazed at how much fun it is and how much of a workout I get playing on that video game. It also tracks the time you’ve spent on it and lets you compete against one another. I’m an expert hula hooper, but I am totally uncoordinated and klutzy when it comes to the step dancing.

I went into Winter Break with a long to do list of things I wanted to accomplish for my business, my job, and around the house and I haven’t accomplished a whole lot of them yet. The weird thing is that in years past if I hadn’t trucked through my to do list in record time, I would have felt guilty and as if I was a slacker, but this year I’m realizing that I need this downtime to recharge my batteries and to get ready for the year ahead. The things that really need to get done will get done eventually, but if they don’t get done today the world is not going to come to an end.

Although we’ve gone out to run the errands that have needed to be run, but we’ve spent a lot of time cocooned in the house just chilling out, watching TV, playing with the WII, and enjoying each other’s company. We’ve watched movies together, we’ve played games together, and we’ve eaten dinner together. I’m relishing this year because I know that it won’t be too much longer before it will be just John and I alone for the holidays.

Traditional Bliss

Traditions give us a foundation for the future, but they shouldn’t be so rigid that they keep us mired in the past. Our families traditions have evolved over the past twenty-one Christmases that John and I have been together. From a family of two, to a family of three, to a family of four, our traditions have expanded or contracted as the years and money permitted, but they’ve always revolved around our core values of love of family, love of food, and hope for the future. Although our traditions are not all unique, they do bring us much joy, laughter, and bliss.
Our Yule Ritual–We welcome the sun back every year and it is a sacred tradition that we follow even today with the kids almost grown.
Santa’s Letter–Every Christmas Santa writes the kids a special letter detailing how they’ve been good over the past year, where they could hope to improve, and explaining why he’s chosen to buy the present he has. It’s been interesting over the course of the years because in the years when we were so broke we weren’t sure we’d be able to afford much for Christmas, Santa always came through with the gift the kids hadn’t dared to hope for. This year, two letters from Santa showed up and we all believe that Santa made a special stop just to remind us how lucky we are to still have John with us.
The bears of Christmas–We spent the Christmas of 1992 on the tropical island of Okinawa. It was the first year Caitlin was born and John and I knew that our family was complete. While shopping at the base exchange, I found these incredibly gaudy tinsel covered bears. The gold bears are for the “boys” and the silver bears are for the “girls.” John’s immediate reaction was that they were gawd awful ugly and he groaned the first few years when I brought them out for Christmas. He still thinks they’re gaudy, but they’ve become such and ingrained part of the holidays that he’s evolved into just shaking his head when I bring them out.
Milk and Cookies–One year when the kids were early, I found this beautiful plate and cup said that said “Santa’s Magical Cookies” and every holiday since it has been filled with cookies and milk for Santa. This year the cookies were butter cookies from Arlington Cake Box and they were so yummy that Santa had four of them.
Stockings filled with care–Although the big gifts are always nice to get, the stockings that “Santa Mom” fills so carefully are always fun to open. Caitlin always seems to get lip balm in hers (she had 13 tubes this year) and Sean’s was filled with useful things like a hammer and small tool kit for when he moves into his own apartment. John’s had puzzles and sugar free cookies and mine was filled with body lotions.
Batman and Beatles–Sean’s been a Batman fan since before he could speak and every year either Santa or mom and dad make sure that he has a Batman present under the tree. This year Sean’s was a Joker set that he could take back to his dorm room and play with his friends. Cat discovered the Beatles in eighth grade and every year since we’ve had to make sure that the Fab Four paid her a visit every year.
Ornaments–We have a number of traditions around ornaments. The kids always get a new ornament reflecting where they are in their lives: school buses for the first year of school, a French Cat for the year Caitlin started French lessons, etc. We also always pick up ornaments from everywhere we go so our tree is adorned with trinkets from London, Atlanta, Alaska, and other places far and near. One of these years, I’m hoping we’ll get organized enough to have multiple trees and then we can do themed trees: a travel tree, a kid tree, and a glittery tree.

Presents–Presents are always a part of Christmas mornings and when the kids were younger, we’d roll out of bed at 5 am or so when Sean came in to wake us up. The good thing since the kids are older is that now Christmas morning doesn’t start so early as they usually don’t roll out of bed until 8:30 or later. Although most mornings I welcome the opportunity to sleep in, sometimes I miss the childish bliss of running into the living room to see what Santa’s brought.

Our Christmas this year was a live with family, presents, food, and an overwhelming sense of blissfulness that we are all here to celebrate together.