All I want for the holidays....

I will be spending my Christmas break in my hometown of Wichita, Kansas. My break will be very laid back and I will spend a lot of time with family and friends.

On Christmas Eve, my parents and I traditionally go to mass in the evening then head home for a nice meal. After eating, we drive through an older neighborhood in Wichita, College Hill, where the homeowners go crazy with Christmas lights. Some streets string lights from houses and trees down two or three blocks!

This is especially fun for us because we lived there until I was 4 years old and it brings back memories of our first Christmases as a family.

Once we return home, Christmas presents begin to appear under the tree and we open them on Christmas morning. My dad and I will play our annual round of golf on Christmas, weather permitting, and we will have dinner as a family again.

On the 26th, our family is meeting at my aunt and uncle’s house in Topeka, Kan. to celebrate Christmas with our extended family. We will spend a day there and everyone will bring something for a big lunch followed by opening presents. My mom and I always bake and frost sugar cookies from an old family recipe for our contribution. My grandma will make a couple of pies, someone will cook a turkey and/or ham, and the remainder of the buffet will be filled with mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, rolls, and plenty of other country favorites. In all, we will have around twenty people representing three generations, ages seven to 87.

Outside of Christmas festivities, I will spend time catching up with friends on the golf course, in front of NCAA bowl games (WOO PIG!) and Kansas basketball games, and over plates at our favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants in the Wichita area. Aside from friends and family, I will enjoy time at the golf course, playing and practicing or sledding if it snows, and working out to stay in shape and burn off all the cookies that I will eat!

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday season! Go Hogs!!