Christmas Bells are ringing, Christmas Bells are singing, on TV @ Saks.

Christmas with the TAYLOR CLAN. A joyous, loud, stressful fun annual tradition. I flew to Ohio on the last AA flight from ORD to Cleveland on Christmas Eve night and arrived in Kidron, Ohio (population 1000, maybe) at around 1:30 am Christmas morning. After rushing off to bed I was rudely awakened by my cell phone alarm, which was an unfamiliar chant to me as I had never used it before. I mustered the strength to get ready for Church and failed to have breakfast:(. We went to Sonnenburg Mennonite, My aunt and uncle's church and suprisingly everyone from our extended Taylor family in the area was there. We took up two large Church pews, in the back of course. The service was interesting. We sang hymns, but not many good ones, and they were all accompanied by musical aid, so sadly there was no awesome 4 part harmony. After Church, my immediate family gathered to have lunch and open presents. Lunch was amazing! We had Belizean rice and beans, white rice, stewed beans, ham, turkey, stuffing, and gravy. It was great. Check out the food photo here:

So we continued on to open gifts. The joyous tradition of ripping off nicely wrapped paper to uncover something that you have been eagerly awaiting. Ahh.. the commercialization of Christmas. oops.. I mean the Holiday Season. Here I am thrilled over something holidayish!


One of the highlight gifts this year was a Furby that my 3 year old niece received from her parents or possibly Santa. "Me Furby, you friend" "aaahhhhhhhhhh" (in a friendly mechanical voice)

A few hours after our immediate family gathering, the entire clan got together in the garage (the only space large enough to hold all of us) to have a delicious dinner and exchange gifts as well as get gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. This year for the gift exchange we had to buy a gift for someone of the same gender as ourselves that begins with the letter of our name. I bought a daily calendar with quotes from the "Duh Awards". My lucky cousin Scott was the one who received it. I happened to receive another gift that began with a "D"... a devotional...yay! The gift from my Grandparents was pretty cool. A old fashioned desk clock that chimes. I am actually quite excited about this one and can't wait to try it out. They also gave me the batteries to use it. JACKPOT. Check it out below.