Christmas 2006
11:37PM, December 30, 2006 - [ Permalink]
This year, I think, even though I don't care for the Christmas gift-giving, things went relatively well, potentially because the parties were spread out over a few weeks.
We had our "Grinch Party" of which revolves around a showing of the 1966 classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas in early December, which was a great success. Then we had Tracey's Family Christmas on December 23rd, Christmas Day we slept in, went for lunch at Dunns with Susi, Chris and his son and daughter, followed by going to see Eragon, which in the end was a decent enough movie, based on a good story, but I don't think we'll see the sequel unless DVD sales really take off. Too bad. I like movies with dragons.
We got home and relaxed, finishing re-re-rewatching Firefly and Serenity. The 26th was a lazy day as well. We did wander up to the Rideau Centre to see what was on sale, and snagged a few good deals on movies. I went with the intention to complete our Buffy the Vampire collection (missing Seasons 5-7), but they weren't $20 each like some of the earlier seasons. We picked up some pizza slices somewhere along the line and we both puttered around on the computers, trying to work, but that didn't work out too well - we both *did* get work done, but it felt so contrarian it was too much effort.
On the 27th we left for my dads farm. The drive down was pretty reasonable, with the roads and drivers behaving themselves. We had some quiet time helping get things set up and just chatting with dad. Then Jenn, Kiokiane and Jenn's cousin-in-law Christiana (sp?) arrived. We played a game of Trivial Pursuit, which Tracey narrowly won. That night, it snowed.
The 28th was fun. We had our family Christmas in the morning - and then we started getting ready for the rest of the family Christmas, which involved cooking two turkeys (yay Tracey!) and other prep work... and sit around and talk.
Kiokiane is getting bigger, and is a funny kid. And *spoiled*. That photo of the tree with all the presents? A hefty portion of them are for her - that big bag? Full of presents for her. Tracey and I were very pleased that generally, our wish that donations be made instead of giving us gifts was followed - although some gifts seem to have crept in. They just can't seem to help themselves. ;-) I helped Jenn pack her car with her gifts, Nico's, Christiana's, Kiokiane's... Tight fit, let me tell you. ;-)
My favorite thing about Christmas is the opportunity to see the family - I had a great chat with my aunt Penney that ran until about one in the morning after everyone else had gone to bed for the night. We came home early on the 29th and started to settle back into a somewhat normal routine. When I checked the mail, my DVD copy of Timothy Hines' The War of the Worlds was in the mailbox. More on that in another post.
