Quote:
Originally Posted by RG_
What did you do, how did you see, what happened? What did you get for Christmas, if anything? Was the holiday a joy, or was it a downer (and it is for many people)?
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And my own report.
My holidays started further back in December with a Christmas party with co-workers, at one the home of one of the members. He has a very upscale home and it was a great place for a party. He has a bar with built in beer taps and a game room, so it all went off very well.
On the 23rd I celebrated Christmas with my kids, all of whom except one are grown by now. The youngest, 17, spent the 23rd and 24th with me. sarah provided
much help on the 23rd, and we had a very nice gathering. There were meatballs in barbecue sauce, queso (melted cheese) and tortilla chips, sliced ham for sandwiches, a veggie tray, a meat and cheese tray, pies, and a big platter of assorted fudges and finger cakes. In our large coffee urn was hot wassel--
very good and made from scratch by sarah. There were Christmas movies for the younger kids (I'm not sure that we put any on in the kids room, but they were there), and Christmas music was playing in the background. We finally gathered around and distributed gifts. I still put up stockings with their names for my kids, now stuffed with very traditional Christmas stocking items: candies, tangerines, apples, and candy canes. When they were kids I also put little toys and such in them. There was also a tiny stocking for one of their missing sibs.
On the 24th my youngest daughter and I went shopping for a couple of items for sarah that I had not been able to get away and get for her (all of our shopping trips to the "big cities" had been together). I got a few more things for my daughter, too, and then went home.
On Christmas Eve, with the house cleaned up again from the day before, sarah and I sat down on the couch and watched two movies. One is my favorite Christmas season movie and one that she likes,
A Christmas Story, about a nine-year-old boy named Ralphie in the 1950's, who desparately wants a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, and schemes and worries about getting it, alternately despairing of hope and then trying another plan to procure it. It's a great story all in its own right, but it's also a time-machine trip back into my own childhood. After that we watched sarah's favorite Disney movie,
The Little Mermaid. It was actually a cute little story--I hadn't seen it before--and being set in the sea something very suited to my liking of course, being a sailor. After the movie we went to bed and had some Christmas Eve fun.
sarah is a notorious gift peeker, so I kept her gifts locked away. So on Christmas morning I got up and told her to stay in bed while I got Christmas morning put together. I put the coffee on, then retrieved all of the gifts, and then set about preparing and wrapping them. (This all accompanied by a cry of "Hurry up, pokey!!") When all was almost ready, I made her a glass of eggnog (lightly spiked with Southern Comfort, we being Southerners, of course.
), with nutmeg and cinnamon sprinkled on top, and then put Christmas carols on again to play softly in the background just to set the right atmosphere for the moment. She came out with her red silk pajamas on (very Christmasy), and we then had our Christmas together. She must speak for herself, but I thought it was all just a wonderful time.
Afterward, she left to spend Christmas afternoon with her parents and her kids, returned from their father. When she came home in the evening we then finished Christmas off with gifts for her two kids that live with us, a 3-year old girl and a 6-year old boy. They were just thrilled by some of what they got, especially the boy who got a Superman outfit. He's still wearing it today, insisting that we call him "Superman" and not by his given name. LOL
Now, of course, there's the clean-up and the storing of all of the Christmas items. Sigh.