Thoughts of Mom

Tonight was one of those nights that I had my mom on my mind the entire time. I was wrapping the last of the Christmas presents and trying to decide if they all really needed ribbon or if I could get away with just wrapping them and putting them under the tree. Would anyone really care, probably not, but I thought about my mom staying into the wee hours and making the most beautiful presents I've ever seen. She was incredible. Every present could have been in a shop window. I remember one year, she had pieces of real evergreen attached to some of the presents with a beautiful ribbon. She and my dad would wait until Christmas Eve to put out most of the gifts and we would come out to a dramatic display of presents. Eric was shocked by the sight of our tree at the first Middleton Christmas he experienced. She loved Christmas and loved going overboard. It was like that every year. So, although my kids are only 6, 3, and 8 months, I did put a ribbon on every gift. Not nearly as beautiful as she would have done them, but each are done nonetheless. I just couldn't help myself. What can I say, I am my mother's daughter.