We're halfway to Christmas. Celebrate hard!

Sunday afternoon, I drove home from church and began to prep food for dinner. It was quiet in my house...and peaceful. As I husked corn and speared potatoes, I was suddenly pulled from the calm, thrilled to hear the familiar Christmas song "There's No Place like Home for the Holidays" play on my Alexa. I stopped immediately, and waited anxiously for the phrase, "...Pennsylvania and some homemade pumpkin pie" so I could shout "He Wanted Pie!" 

I was so happy! On our Frame TV was a picture of a present, beautifully wrapped for Christmas, and on our dining table, my Charlie Brown tree surrounded by presents:

In our family, June brings a delightful (albeit fake) holiday called Halfway Christmas. We select a day close to June 25th to celebrate the fact that we are halfway to our favorite holiday of the year! This was our eighth year of this marvelous tradition. If you want to know more, the above link tells the story of 2017, and how the first Halfway Christmas came to be, and here are links to our subsequent celebrations: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. 

As always, it was joyous from start to finish. Amanda made yummy cinnamon rolls, and we all ate them, some of us before church, some after, some both (I may or may not be in that last group.) Later, Shulamith smoked ribs and made a pasta salad. I did the easier stuff: corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and strawberry shortcake. 

After dinner, we opened gifts, one each, one at a time. Everyone seemed happy and grateful, but I think Seth and I tied for the "most excited" prize. I had Seth's name and gave him a new disc for disc golfing, his favorite hobby. Mathew, who doesn't even like the "real" Christmas so definitely doesn't participate in "Halfway," kindly chose a disc for Seth, because I had no idea which ones are good. I added in two black, beaded bracelets, and Seth was delighted with everything.

When it was my turn, my gift was carefully wrapped, yes WRAPPED, not in a bag! I've been wanting a felt letter board to write messages, but I wasn't expecting to get one for Halfway; I didn't think it was possible to find a good one within our $20 price limit. Gerald had my name and, evidently, asked Shulamith for gift suggestions (always a good idea!). Then he found me the perfect letter board (picture top of page). 

Other cool gifts included soft pajama pants for Shulamith, an Amazon gift card for Gerald, a Target gift card for Eli (so he can buy more video games, even though he has several that aren't even opened yet), stuffed Dino Nuggets for Swen and Kennedy, a rock collection for Theodore, and a bouncing ball with handles for Jane. Amanda's gift is still a mystery, but Seth says it's due to arrive at our house today!

After presents, we played a few rounds of "Hot Seat," which brought much laughter but also TERROR, as I learned that Shulamith once provided a ride home to two complete strangers (dudes!), late at night after her serving shift at Macaroni Grill. Seriously???

We're halfway to our favorite holiday, and THAT warrants a celebration! We celebrated hard, and here are more pics to prove it: