Christmas Wrap-Up

One final post about the holidays, and then I'm done.  Promise.  I know my parents enjoy reading about ALL the minutia of our lives, but anyone else who reads this blog shouldn't be subjected to the long, drawn-out ramblings I tend to fall into.  I'll finish up Christmas today and then try to think of something else to post about.

I had to work for six hours on Christmas Eve, but I actually enjoyed having everyone else do all the work and then come home to enjoy the fruits of their labors.  (At my core, I'm more lazy than I like to admit.)  Mike and I had planned the  week's menu and decided on white chicken chili, and it was a perfect meal for a chillly Christmas Eve.  I think Karen and Mike did most of the work on it, but I also think everyone pitched in.  It was fun to sit up around the table for a late meal together.  I was happy that they waited for me to get home at about 8:00 p.m..  Yes, Matt is making a goofy smile in this picture.  I'm not sure why he has taken to doing this lately, but I sure do love my goofball son. 

Part of our Christmas Eve tradition has always been to act out the Nativity.  Karen departed from her normal role and played Mary this year.  Maybe that's because she had her husband Andrew to play Joseph.  I got to be the narrator.

They look cute even with old bathrobes and a towel on Andrew's head.




I like his picture because you can see my braces and my reading glasses.  Such an odd time of life I'm in. . .  (Rumor has it that I may be getting my braces off on January 26th.  Then I'll have to find some other way to look young.)



Rachel just tried to stay awake.  She had a BRUTAL semester.



Adam's just trying to hold it together until Christmas morning arrives.  I'm glad he still gets so excited.

I also had to work on Christmas, but I didn't have to go in until 1:00 p.m.  So, we had plenty of time to open presents, call the grandparents, and be generally lazy.  It was a super fun morning.  I most enjoyed seeing the looks of surprise and pleasure on everyone's faces when they got either just what they wanted or something that they really didn't think they'd get but were surprised by.  Witness:

Matt got an I-pod touch for Christmas last year, which was either stolen or lost three weeks after he got it.  Santa decided to surprise him with a replacement.  Let's hope he can keep this one longer than three weeks.



Karen really wanted a wheat grinder, so she was stoked when she opened this up.  Health nut.  Andrew wanted (and got) a Rockies jersey, but we forgot to get a picture of him opening it.

Santa brought Rachel an I-pod touch also.  Her I-pod was pretty old. . . in electronic years, of course.

Oh, how Adam loves his BSU Broncos (and his Duke Blue Devils.)  Anything that celebrates either of those two is highly appreciated.  He's pretty easy to please.



All in all, it was a truly marvelous holiday.  It bears repeating that the best part of it all was the presence (of all of our immediate family), not the presents.  Doesn't get any sweeter than that.  (This is getting long, so I think I'll post about our sledding adventures tomorrow.  I don't want to lose my whole audience.)