Today was Christmas, of course — or yesterday, I should say, since it’s now 2 am. Or was. Gosh.

If you’ve been here before, you know I love Christmas.

Love it.

I love the songs, the colours, the lights, the warm beverages and most of all… I love how we get the perfect excuse to make life just a little more lovely.

In my family, we take this opportunity very seriously.

I would like to present you with Exhibits One through Five to illustrate this point:

Exhibit One

My mother’s living room tree:

It’s lovely, tall, and COVERED IN BALLS.

That was fun to say. I think I’ll say it again.

COVERED IN BALLS.

My mom keeps this tree simple yet not simple… errr, thematic, but not boring? Firm, yet flexible? Strong, yet sensitive?

(Now I’m writing a personals ad, apparently.)

This tree is the showpiece of my parents’ living room, is COVERED IN (just) BALLS, and is gold, white, green and red all over (which is a newspaper joke I’ve adjusted just enough to put the screws to the punchline.)

Exhibit Two

Our Family Tree:

Oddly enough, if you were to map out our actual family tree, it would look a lot like this, complete with a glass pickle and a big snowman.

This tree lives in the family room downstairs, and is covered trunk to top with ornaments that are special to my family — including several from when my brother was just a wee baby… and I was but a twinkle in my father’s eye.

And no, I’m not kidding about the pickle.

Exhibit Three

The Cardinal Tree:

This tree (placed in the dining room, adjacent to the door of my father’s study) is dedicated to the memory of Cardinal Richelieu.

Because if there is one thing my family really cares about, it’s French history.

That’s not even a little bit true.

No, no… we just like tiny red birds.

With extra sauce.

No, no, no… I’m kidding.

Just in their birdness, their tiny red birdness.

This tree is covered in them. It’s lousy with them, in fact. But we don’t think they’re lousy.

We just think they’re red.

Exhibit Four

My Aunt Colleen’s Foyer Tree:

Isn’t foyer a funny word?

I think so, too.

It should be spelled fo-yay, but it’s not.

But I must say, I said fo-YAY! when I saw this sparkly white tree next to my aunt’s Scarlett O’Hara-esque spiral staircase.

Because, quite frankly, my dear… I do give a damn.

Exhibit Five

My Aunt Colleen’s Living Room Tree:

My Aunt Colleen is my mom’s sister, which should give you a hint that Fancy Pants Tree addictions are a genetic condition.

Hereditary?

Congenital?

Chronic?

Whatever it is, we’ve got it.

I have my own wee tree at home, and lovely though it may be, it does not compare to these five exhibits.

So I won’t show you.

Actually, I already did.

There.

Now do you see how much we love Christmas?

We really love it.

In fact, we’re crazy about it:

At least we look crazy.

The only thing that could have made this Christmas better — because, HELLO, LOTS OF TREES, not to mention that I spent time with my awesome parents, spent time with my crazy extended family, ate lots of turkey and blackberry cheesecake, experienced not one but TWO Scrabble whuppings from my dad, watched three jolly movies (White Christmas, The Bishop’s Wife, and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation) and received a NEW IPHONE WITH WHICH I TOOK ALL THESE PHOTOS, OH YES — would be spending it with this dude:

That photo was taken of him during his visit to Vancouver last year, right before Christmas, when he met my family for the first time.

When he left last December, I remember feeling like a part of me was missing. It ached. I even found myself feeling crabby during Christmas dinner, for the love of Pete, which really doesn’t make any sense.

Who feels crabby when gravy is at arm’s length?

But this year, I am looking forward to a visit with him (I fly out Monday!), so every single thing I did this Christmas — things I enjoy, and have always enjoyed — was just that much more giddy-special because I would get an extra-special treat at the end of it…

Seeing Gradon.

I still got to cuddle with someone at dinner, mind you:

This is Lola.

Lola is my aunt and uncle’s cat.

(Not a showgirl, as Mr. Manilow would have you believe.)

Lola is a potentially hermaphroditic cat, in fact.

But that’s a whole other story. Lola’s story.

Meow.

Anyway, I should probably get to the wish part of this post, huh?

Especially if I keep feeling compelled to count my chins in these photos.

(One, two, three… oh, forget it.)

My wish for all of you — my genuine, fervent hope — is that you will have a year ahead that surprises you in good ways. A year where you accomplish the things you plan, where you dream things and they happen, and where you find yourself surrounded by people who love you in the exact ways your heart wishes to be loved.

For all the difficult and challenging moments I’ve had in the last year, I can honestly say that I’ve experienced every one of these things.

And I don’t see an end to any of them.

Which is why I want all of them for you, too.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me, cared for me, pushed me in the right directions, given me opportunities, and accepted me in all my flawed Megness in 2009. Your hearts filled my heart pretty damn full.

Thank you especially to my family, who have never faltered in their promise of unconditional love, and who make me so proud to be one of them.

And thank you to Gradon, who is pretty much magic. I’ll leave it at that.

Merry Christmas, everyone.