This Christmas

It's funny, I was sure we'd be spending our first married Christmas the same way we spent our first married Thanksgiving: as just us two. And I was (pretty much) fine with that. I accepted that we wouldn't be going to any holiday parties, that we wouldn't get to see our family and friends open their gifts, that we'd have a quiet Christmas Eve dinner. But in the span of just a couple days last week, our plans changed. The hubs and I don't have many friends here, but the ones we do graciously extended invitations for us to join them in their celebrations. So! Tomorrow's plan is to attend an afternoon service at this Tampa church before heading over to Jen (of Letters & Pearls) and Matthew's house for Christmas Eve dinner. (I'm still debating what dish we should bring.) On Christmas Day, we'll wake up, have breakfast (I'm thinking of making these easy blueberry muffins, since that's what my mom always makes), and do our own gift exchange. Then I will attempt to make Risalamande, a cold and creamy rice pudding dish served with a fruit sauce (raspberry for us) that is the quintessential Danish Christmas dessert that I grew up eating every year. My mom sent me her recipe, and I hope I don't mess up! Because we'll be taking it over to fellow Coast Guard couple Laura and Jeremy's house (Jeremy is G's current supervisor) to share with them and some of their family. While I had asked G weeks ago about what he wanted to make for dinner on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and we had planned out what we would do, I'm glad that our plans changed. It will be nice to spend the holidays outside of our cramped apartment, with other people, sharing the joy of the season and traditions old and new. And we'll definitely have less dishes to clean :)

While this doesn't seem to always be the case lately, I'm glad to know that, if you have an open heart, sometimes things do work out better than you imagined.