It's Christmas Eve! I'm so happy today. I love Christmas Eve. We had a great day yesterday. I had breakfast with my family in the morning, and we gathered with friends for an oyster roast last night. I wore my glitter shoes and red lipstick ("Truly Red" by Laura Mercier for those of you keeping track at home. Although the recommendations keep rolling in...thanks Annie!). I got up early (as usual) and did all the dishes which felt like a little gift to Neel, since he's usually the one elbow deep in the suds.

Today my dad and I will take our annual trip to the mall to watch all the frantic people milling about. We have a last minute grocery trip and some wrapping to do. Tonight we'll have Seven Layer Salad and Grilled Sausages with mustards to dip. It's our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. Years and years ago, when my grandparents were living, we'd gathered at their house for Christmas (Neel was in graduate school at this point). My granddad, while not exactly a shut-in, was close, and on Christmas Eve my dad and I opened the door to a church friend of my grandmother's bearing a Seven Layer Salad. It was a treat we'd always loved at potlucks, but it never occurred to us that we could make our own! We've had it whenever we've been together for Christmas ever since. Tonight, after some football, we're going to Christmas Eve services with my friend Catherine tonight, and then tomorrow. Tomorrow! I always defer to Kipper on Christmas Eve. What's best? Presents or expecting presents?

I love this photo of the Parliament Building in Budapest for so many reasons. It was such a wonderful trip to an unexpectedly delightful city that I thought I'd pop it up here in honor of our European daydreams. And it was this picture and several others that made me realize that there was a dial on my camera that changed how my pictures look. Somehow the dial got bumped to "M" for a batch of photos, and I ended up with roughly a dozen over-exposed pictures of Callum and Neel along the Danube. This is one of them, although I love the muted palette. I remember saying to Neel, "What does 'M' even mean???"

Hard to believe I've been shooting in "Manual" for nearly two years now.

Don't look now...it's Christmas Eve!

1. I think I'm very much looking forward to what the evening has in store. Two words: oyster roast.

2. I think I'm already thinking about my 12 for 12 list. For those of you who are new here, I do a quasi-resolution list every year. I am very loose in my commitment to this list, and it has a mix of big and little goals. I rarely go back and check to see how many I've met until the end of the year and sometimes there's carry-over from year to year. I have some big things in mind. And some not so big too. Heather, from Home Again Jog has a great 40X40 list. Aren't lists fun?

3. I think it's awesome that we chained my mom to the kitchen pretty much all day on Wednesday. The cookies are great.

4. I think I want to spend Christmas somewhere else sometime. I asked on my personal Facebook page yesterday, if you could spend the holiday in any European city, which would you choose? Anyone care to weigh in?

5. I think, at times, we as bloggers wrestle with how much to share here in these spaces we create. The bigger part of me believes that forthright and honest writing is what really connects with people, and that I am a better me when I write from the heart and tell you what is true (the good and the bad) and real for me. In my Blogging Your Way course, Holly and Leslie talk about using your blog as a vehicle to live your best life. That really resonates with me. I'm working hard to fear less being vulnerable here, and to know that whatever I want to share, it's okay. All that to say, some things are still private for me and my family. Some things have occurred in my past or are happening to us along the way that don't bear exposure here. What I will share with you is this. Something will happen for me today that I have been waiting for for a long time. This is a behind-the-scenes kind of thing that you won't ever see detailed on these pages. But to me it is significant and important. I am equal measures nervous and excited. This moment is likely a decade in the making, and all I've wanted for Christmas for a long time. Maybe it's something I can explain to you someday, but it involves a lot of sadness as well as people who may not want their stories told here. That's fair. All I want you to know is that I am very happy today, and all I ask is that you save an extra thought for me and my little family as you go about your day.

I'll likely throw up a quick Christmas Eve hello tomorrow , and then I may or may not be around much next week. We'll see how the mood strikes me!