Christmas

Christmas Eve went pretty much as always. Lego Lover woke up in the worst mood and lost it a couple times during the day. It’s simply too hard to hold it together through the two big days of the year for him. I think he recovered a bit better than he has in the past and was very regretful of his actions after his return to sanity. We were suitably busy making some last minute purchases and ended up at the shops about three times in total for the day. I made two ginger cakes for Christmas and the Scientist iced them in the evening. The boys tried hard to go to sleep early again but both still were awake later than would have been preferred.

Christmas itself started a bit earlier than expected when the phone rang early in the morning. It was my friend K, who had been working overnight, and whose car had decided to conk out not too far from where we live. My eyes have been really dry lately and they were still pretty bleary and blurry so the Scientist and I both went to get her and take her home. It was rather more inopportune than usual for my friend since everything is closed on both Christmas and Boxing Day here.

The Scientist and I came home and the boys opened their presents. Lego Lover received more Lego sets and a game for his DS and Games Fanatic received mostly games and a dvd set of  an anime series he wanted. Stocking stuffers included other dvds, chocolates and each got the new traditional joke gift, a pair of undies. We left the boys at home to enjoy theirs gifts while we went off to breakfast with family friends. Two years ago I started staying home with Lego Lover during this yearly tradition because the stress of this event attended by so many people he didn’t know was just too much. This year our highly anxious child, Game Fanatic, offered to stay home so that I could attend. So selfless, lol! The breakfast went well enough and the Scientist’s brother with his family did a version of the Christmas story using the names of chocolate bars as props before the meal started. It was all quite amusing and sweet, literally, since they handed out chocolates after their little skit.

We spent the remainder of the morning and almost all afternoon at home relaxing. The Scientist and I both took naps at different times during the afternoon. I usually feel much better after a nap but had a headache after this one. I still felt much less sleepy for attending Christmas dinner later on. At Game Fanatic’s request I made a batch of cornbread and then I made a salad. This salad was called chickpea fattoush and came out rather well, I think. It’s made from chickpeas mixed with mint, flat leaf parsley, scallions, grape tomatoes and chopped Lebanese cucumber. A dressing of lemon and olive oil and broken bits of Lebanese bread (baked to a crisp) were added at the last minute.

The dinner was actually a barbecue and included heaps of meat and some veggie type patties. We were swimming in salads because my SIL brought not only the two salads she had previously advised but two other salads left from another meal they had had earlier.  My MIL had also made a mediterranean style salad too, so it was all a bit much. We ended up bringing almost all of the the salads home because the Scientist’s brother and family were leaving two days later for a holiday so wouldn’t be able to eat all of it. After dinner the presents were opened and there was much excitement from all the kids.  We had gotten my younger niece a Barbie set for Christmas and a Barbie armoire set for her birthday (which was Dec. 31st) and she was just so thrilled that it was a wonderful pleasure for us. Apparently she had been asking her mum for just that armoire and thought her mum had told us but it was pure coincidence and price on our part! The Barbie came with a a child’s t-shirt to match the one Barbie was wearing and it fit her perfectly.  She wore it that day and when we saw her briefly the next day, she had it on again!  Our other niece was very pleased with the scrapbooking supplies we had given her and the nephew was satisfied with some extra pieces of track for his Thomas the Tank engine set. Lego Lover received another large Bionicle set and some little things plus a gift card. Game Fanatic got a game he wanted and a gift card plus some puzzles that he really liked.

Once the gift-giving was over, most of the family went across the street to the park to play with the kids. It was extremely windy outside as it has been almost every night the past few weeks so it was actually a bit chilly for those of us standing around.  I was pleased to see Game Fanatic throwing a ball back and forth with his oldest cousin  for awhile and Lego Lover didn’t shy away quite as much as he has in the past. Little by little everyone drifted back to the house and not long afterwards, the Scientist’s brother and family left for home. We stayed a bit longer as we waited for it to get a bit darker because we had planned on looking at Christmas lights on the way home.  We did see some really nice lights along the way but not so many closer to home. We arrived home at nearly 10pm!

I had a late night snack of salads before making a long phone call to my mum, which was very enjoyable. This went on to close to midnight when we said our goodbyes. My call to my dad was saved for the next morning when it would be evening in Texas.

And so ended our Christmas Day.