Not the movie, which I heard was really good-no, these are my four Christmases. Maybe someone will find them interesting. I like filling my blog, and I told myself that I would write about all the festivities.
Christmas #1: my Dad's side of the family in Memphis
We decided December 21st would be the day to go to Memphis since it didn't work out for my grandparents, aunt and 2 cousins to come to my parents' house on Christmas day. I think Landon and I are the farthest away, so we needed to leave pretty early to make it for lunch (plus I was bringing a casserole that needed to be cooked once we arrived). Ok, sounds good until we bring home Taco Bell the night before and it makes Landon miserably sick. I mean, so miserably sick that we probably won't eat there again this side of 6 months or more. I was fine, but I'm ok with that plan since the one closest to us is normally pretty crappy, but that's beside the point.
So he is up half the night, but I am determined that we will leave the house on time. It ends up that I talk to my mom a couple of times and everyone says to tell Landon that it's ok-he needs to stay home. Now I am normally not one who ever drives long distances alone, but we have a GPS now (I must add that we have named him Rafiki-even though the "voice" is female-because "he know the way". If you think I'm weird, just remember the Lion King and it will all make sense!), so I was feeling very confident that I could get me and Giselle to Memphis.
Mini side note to the story: Giselle came with me because we didn't want to leave her in her crate for the 7+ hours she would have been confined otherwise. We planned on taking her anyway, before Landon was sick, so I went ahead and packed her stuff into the car so she wouldn't be in his way all day.
Anyway, I ended up leaving the house about 30 minutes later that the original planned time, but still got to Memphis before lunch was scheduled. It was delayed a little, of course, since my dish wasn't all the way cooked yet when I got there. I ended up meeting Phil before I'd gotten very far on the road so that Laura could ride with me on the trip up there. It worked out very nicely.
Dinner was pretty uneventful, then when everything was all cleaned up and everything we just kind of....sat. With this side of the family, we have started the tradition of swapping names to do gifts, so that everyone doesn't buy for everyone like we had been doing in the past. This was our 3rd year doing it this way, so while there aren't as many gifts to pass out, everyone is still excited to get it going...at least I thought we were! We just ended up sitting and all that for at least an hour or more after dinner was over and done with. Finally it came to the point where my cousin was going to have to leave so she could take care of some stuff, so I declared it was time for gifts. I thought for sure when she started hinting that she needed to go that someone else would speak up, but I surprised myself and took the liberty. (Seriously, I'm not usually one of those who can get people to "listen up"!)
So gifts are handed out and we take turns opening up. All that buildup and most everyone got the same thing: cash. There were a few other gifts, but at least cash lets you buy what you want. After the gift giving, Mama, Tonya, Phil and I got to go see some of our cousins that live nearby that I haven't seen in years. I had a horrible headache, but it was really cool to get to hang out with them and try to catch up when most of us couldn't remember the last time we saw each other!
I had not planned on spending the night in Memphis (meaning I did not bring anything for a sleepover), but with Landon not feeling much better yet and with it being very dark by the time the gifts were opened, Giselle and I were welcomed to my aunt's house to spend the night! (My grandmother's house was full with my parents and brother staying there.) It was very late by the time I got to my aunt's after going to see cousins and getting my car so I could drive the short distance to her house. I got there just in time to say goodnight to her, and for Giselle to chase her 2 year old dachshund Gracie around the coffee table a few times. (I couldn't totally blame her-Giselle had to stay on her leash the whole time before because I didn't want her to jump up on my 86 year old grandmother. Even though she was really good on her leash, she just had lots of unused energy.) So I went to bed without brushing my teeth, and slept in my clothes. My poor aunt had to work super early the next morning, but she is so sweet and left some $ for me and Laura to get some breakfast since she didn't have anything for us to eat.
To end this exceptionally long version of Christmas #1, Laura ended up riding almost all the way back with me and when I got home Landon was feeling a little better. He didn't feel like eating real food yet, but he was past that point of only wanting to veg out on the couch.
Christmas #2: Landon's family in McMinville
This one was the very next day, the 22nd, but at least it was in the evening so Landon could spend the whole day feeling better. I got home in just enough time to allow me to wrap every gift we were taking with us, and then get myself ready to go. Landon has 2 older brothers-the oldest one (who's town we went to) has 2 daughters, and the middle one has 2 daughters and 2 sons. Add to that Landon's grandfather (plus he brought his "girlfriend"-they are both in their 80's!), aunt and her 2 sons, plus Landon's dad plus the 2 of us-and there were nearly 20 people at this gathering!
Way back right at Thanksgiving, whoever set this up said it was going to be at their house. So Landon and I get to their house a little early...and all is dark, nobody home. We get back in the car and call Landon's dad and he's like "No-it's at the church!". Great, the location was changed and nobody thought to tell us? So it takes a bit of doing to find the church, but we get there expecting to be holding everyone up from eating, but everything is just finishing up getting ready, so we're good. Although we did give several people a hard time for not telling us that the location had moved.
Anyway, everyone finally gets there and it's time to eat. Landon and I chose the kiddy table because it looked like fun (and there were just enough seats once every person sat down-so a couple of "grown-ups" were going to have to sit there anyway), and he ate just a little bit of food while making jokes about how sick he was.
Because there are so many kids on this side of the family, there were lots of gifts to give out! Once again I took the liberty of "announcing" that it was present time-in this instance it was 9pm by that time, and we had almost an hour drive to get back home after gifts. (Dude, I was so surprised that I got everyone to listen like that 2 days in a row!) I became "Santa" and handed out the presents, then it became a frenzy of opening and squeeeling and "thank yous" for all the kids. Since there are so many kids, everyone just buys for them; although Landon's aunt gave us a really pretty pitcher this year. Now onto...
Christmas #3: my family in Hermitage
Well, I think of the 4 of them, this Christmas is the one that came off the most smoothly. Everyone was on time, nobody was sick, I didn't have to declare that it was present time (Laura almost always takes care of that here-and people listen!), Giselle got to come and be off her leash and Christmas tv specials were involved.
We continued our tradition from last year of going to a movie on Christmas day before eating or doing gifts. This year we went to see Marley & Me, and it was SOOOO good! I will just leave it at that so I don't accidentally give any spoilers. I will definitely buy this when it comes to dvd.
Ok, I take back a little when I said nobody got sick; Laura and I both had headaches when the movie was over. But we both took something and felt better before it was time to eat later, so all was well!
This year we decided to do things differently as far as what kind of food to have. By this time everyone is pretty tired of all the traditional food offerings for the season, so we did finger foods instead and I think we should do it like this every year! We had a lot of stuff from cheese sticks to hot wings to smokey links. Definitely the way to go. After food we did presents, and this side of the family gives and gets a lot of dvds! I love it, because there's always something that everyone wants but can't always get themselves, plus we borrow each others' stuff a lot so it works out well! And I got my traditional Audrey Hepburn calendar. I've gotten one every year from my parents since at least 2004, so this was #5.
After the mayhem of gift wrapping was cleaned up-some of it being what Giselle had previously stolen and shredded-we watched some Looney Tunes that Phil and Tonya had given me. After several way funny Tweety and Sylvester moments, Landon and I had to pack up and head home. It was a really good and relaxed day.
And now...
Christmas #4: my mom's side of the family in Humboldt
My grandmother has claimed New Year's Day to be Christmas since I was about 14 I think-although it could be earlier than that, I would have to ask someone. Anyway, she has 5 children and multiple grandchildren and great-grandchildren, so this day seemed to be the best one to pick for everyone (or as many as possible) to be able to make it to celebrate Christmas.
There's not a whole lot to say about this one since it usually disbands pretty quickly once food and gifts (i.e. cash-everyone makes the joke, not just me!) are done. It's good to see everyone that I don't get to see a whole lot, especially to see how the babies have grown-and to see some of the babies I hadn't even gotten to see before! We came, we ate (well, I only ate a little because the food didn't look too appealing to me), we visitied, we gave, we got and we went. It was neat this year because pretty much everyone came-except for one cousin. That almost never happens, so we were packed in the little room where we ate. But it was good, and pretty much everyone left with candy and money. (yay! Grandma "bought" me Vera Bradley this year and last year!)
The weird thing about this get together was that almost 10 people got sick a day or so afterwards...I've heard the flu/stomach bug was going around, but I'm just glad that Landon and I didn't eat much of the food that was there. Hopefully everyone is doing better by now.
Well, I have covered every Christmas except for what Landon and I did with each other. I didn't give it a separate number because I was adding up the events where we had to drive somewhere to get to them. In my previous post, I said how Landon got a PS3; that was for Christmas and his birthday that's on Dec. 27th. He also got a few games to go along with it, and an extra controller and remote, so he was set by the time the 25th came around. I got myself a few things here and there, but we also got each other a card and a small surprise item. He got me an iTunes giftcard, and I got him a Life is Good shirt. We ended up giving each other those things on Christmas eve, but kind of forgot the cards until the day after Christmas.
On Christmas day, we slept until about 9-ish and I made us scrambled eggs and cinnamon rolls for breakfast, which we ate while watching A Charlie Brown Christmas, and Giselle bugged us while we were trying to eat. (she likes eggs)
Well, I heavily applaud anyone who read even halfway through this um...solilioquy (that is so a real word! Remember how Andy Griffith told Opie about Romeo and Juliet? He said that people gave soliloquys "a whole lot back then". Definition 2 : a dramatic monologue that represents a series of unspoken reflections. Ok, so maybe it doesn't exactly mean what I just wrote, but I think it can work here.). I promise my next post won't be so atrociously (another real word-remember Anne of Green Gables?) long. And I will try to remember for Christmas 2009 to blog about each event separately.
A belated Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you (all 2 of you that read!) all!
Btw, I will have you two know that it took me more than an hour to type this up and it's 1:15 pm my time. Oooh, I had to do an edit and say it took almost 2 hours. Am I dedicated to telling a story or what?!
