On Christmas Eve (the day most of the festivities take place in Sweden) Donald spoke to family over the phone. Then we celebrated with my maternal grandparents (and aunts, uncles, cousins, and the rest of my family) on Christmas Eve night. I remember doing that as a child, too. Back then, there was excitement with extended family-- then more excitement as we left my grandparents' house and headed home under a starry sky so we could be asleep before Santa showed up.
Christmas is less exciting as an adult than it was as a child (it just can't be helped), but it's still plenty of fun. I look forward particularly to the game of Dirty Santa, as it's always good for laughs. This year, Donald ended up with this book (which, I feel bound to add, was the joke portion of a real gift-- so you needn't feel sorry for him). Don't want to bother clicking that link? Well, here's a picture (that I shamelessly snagged off the 'net) of the cover:
Go ahead; admit it: you're jealous! ;o)
Actually, I think this might be readable. It looked like an interesting mix of funny, informative, and bizarre, at first glance.
Our jokey gift this year (as we tend to do one straightforward gift and one that we hope is a little unusual or humorous) was a few little bags of candy/treats, ten walnuts, and a nutcracker. For a goal price of $10, that seems like an awfully mean, cheap gift, does it not? Fortunately, these were not ordinary walnuts, but the fruits of the legendary (some would say imaginary) money tree. ;o) Crack one open and find no nut, but a dollar bill! I found the idea online and thought it sounded like fun. There's no way I would've been able to execute it on my own, though, as I found breaking the nuts neatly nearly impossible. Donald was a whiz at it, though, and then it was just a matter of removing the nut, folding up a dollar bill, sticking it in one half of the shell, and gluing the two halves back together. (That part was easy.)
Yesterday, we spent the afternoon with just my immediate family. It was a wet, chilly, and very windy day outdoors (no flurries, though)-- which always makes it feel that much cozier inside. This is the first Christmas Day that I can remember us not visiting the grandparents on one side of the family or the other for lunch and the afternoon, which felt a little off-kilter, but I think we all had fun. (Donald and I received some gifts we're really looking forward to trying out/reading/etc. Thank you again, everyone!)
One of these days soon we'll be going to my paternal grandparents' home to celebrate with that side of the family. (It was postponed a little so that Aunt Hilary's family could have a Christmas morning at home for a change.)
In the meantime, I still have one more Christmas gift to work on and finish. (I know; shame on me for not finishing it before Christmas-- but I knew I had more time to get this one done... and I might have finished it last week, if it hadn't been for the "lost day" of our water crisis.) Honestly, I'm kind of burned out on working on Christmas gifts, at the moment, but I'm sure that once I get back at it, it will recapture my interest.
Oh, and I'm several days behind on posting photos for my 25 Days of Christmas challenge... but now that the twenty-five days are over, there's nothing left to do but catch up.
So, that's my little Christmas recap!
I hope yours was nice, too. :o)
