Christmas 2013

Our Christmas this year was very low key and quiet. I worked on Christmas Eve, but my amazing boss made me go home early. Kyle and I got ready and headed to Hooper for the Maughan/Wright Christmas Eve party. Niki and Greg's home is gorgeous. I have to confess I did some major coveting. We had a delicious dinner and enjoyed the nativity. I realized when we got home that for the first time in my memory we didn't sing the 12 Days of Christmas. We failed Grandma and Aunt Venice miserably.

Kyle and I opened our Christmas pajamas when we got home and went to bed. Kyle's parents got up and went to see the grandkids open their gifts the next morning, while Kyle and I slept in until 11:00. There are benefits to not having children. We just did stocking gifts for each other, so we got up and opened them. Kyle's siblings and their families came over around 1:00 and we had dinner and opened gifts from his parents. Kids make Christmas so much more fun. When those 7 boys get a few years older the house isn't going to be big enough to hold them.

We gathered up our stuff and went to Newton and met up with my family and the Petersen's for a delicious dinner. We watched the kids open more gifts and it was a lot of fun. Ella is old enough to get into Christmas this year and it was fun to watch her open her gifts. We gave Garrett a little sticky octopus I found at the dollar store. I bought it for him because I remember having one when I was a kid. You throw it against the wall and it crawls down it. Garrett quickly informed us all it was a squid, and created a game which involved taping a container to the side of refrigerator and enticing the kids to come and take turns trying to throw the "squid" into the container. He later decided he was the mayor and was very busy. Too busy to come open presents.

We got back to Wellsville really late. We had Marijka's name for Christmas. She didn't know what she wanted so I got her gift cards to Hastings. I split the amount among 6 gift cards. I took a bag of taffy and wrapped it in packing tape. I kept going and added in cards and candy as I rolled the tape. So when she opened the box there was a big ball (2 rolls worth) of packing tape she had to unroll to collect her gift. I figured we needed a little entertainment. It took her a while, but she was faster than I thought she would be.

It was a quiet, but nice Christmas.