I hope everyone else had a great Christmas too.
This was one of the best Christmases I've ever had!
Have to preface by explaining that my family doesn't normally celebrate any holidays whatsoever- just not worth the effort to my parents now that I'm grown, and our extended family is all far away.
So this year, Steve invited me over to share his family's celebration, since we've been together long enough that I'm somewhat familiar with everyone. A whole bunch of his extended family lives in the area, so there have been other get-togethers, but Christmas kind of seems like another level of "family" so I was honored to receive the invitation.
I got to Steve's house at around 1pm yesterday, bearing presents of soap and alcoholic chocolate, and after wrangling with the dog (who was not thrilled to be abandoned!), we headed over to his mom's brother's house. We all just sat around and ate and chatted, played with the other dog (also a lab, but black and a lot less insane), shot some pool, opened presents (Steve's aunt gave me a pair of earrings! I wasn't expecting anything!) sang "Happy Birthday" to Steve's grandpa (who is not Jesus, but his birthday's the 24th), and I got to experience my first cheese ball (yum).
Steve and his parents have a tradition of ogling the Christmas displays as they drive home. There weren't many this year, but we did see an awful lot of the leg lamps from "A Christmas Story," since apparently the movie was set in the area Steve lives in. After we got home, we just played video games and surfed the web until bedtime. And I managed to spin my first entire spindle full of singles!
We got woken up for presents (Steve's parents got me stuff too! I seriously did not expect that, either. Lots of socks and some luscious chocolate and a pack of B&B stuff and a Nemo Pez dispenser!) and went off to his dad's mom's house. Steve set up his new Wii and basically ignored me the entire day (GRRRR STUPID BOY) but I had fun hanging out with his cousin for awhile, and playing with the little cousins that showed up later- they're 6, 3, and 10 months, and all of them are a blast to be around. The baby was SO FREAKING CUTE. I wish I'd gotten pictures. He was at the crawling/standing and walking with help stage, and constantly smiling and laughing. The three-year-old little girl was also adorable, if more than a bit hyper, but we certainly had fun chasing each other around. The oldest boy was mostly engrossed in the Wii.
So once the little ones were there (and their parents, who I am not inclined to discuss at the moment, but grrrr), we opened more presents (again, one of Steve's aunts got me a B&B basket and his grandma gave me a pretty pendant...dammit, next year I am making or buying amazing things for ALL OF THEM). The kids were actually more interested in playing with us than the toys they got...the toys couldn't swing them around and chase them, so no contest, I guess. So, I mostly functioned as a giant, mobile toy until we headed out.
We stopped in at Steve's father's best friend's house, and watched The Smoking Gun for awhile, and I lavished much attention on THEIR dog, who is 13 and still very people-friendly, and finally headed back to Steve's own house, where Steve and I packed up and headed over to my place an hour away, back across the Illinois border. And here we are, cuddled in bed- Steve is playing his hax0red XBox, and I'm writing in way too much detail to all of you. Tomorrow we get to go shopping for Wii games, and on Saturday hopefully we can head out to The Fold, which is a fiber shop way out in boofoo land.
I'm really content right now.
Have to preface by explaining that my family doesn't normally celebrate any holidays whatsoever- just not worth the effort to my parents now that I'm grown, and our extended family is all far away.
So this year, Steve invited me over to share his family's celebration, since we've been together long enough that I'm somewhat familiar with everyone. A whole bunch of his extended family lives in the area, so there have been other get-togethers, but Christmas kind of seems like another level of "family" so I was honored to receive the invitation.
I got to Steve's house at around 1pm yesterday, bearing presents of soap and alcoholic chocolate, and after wrangling with the dog (who was not thrilled to be abandoned!), we headed over to his mom's brother's house. We all just sat around and ate and chatted, played with the other dog (also a lab, but black and a lot less insane), shot some pool, opened presents (Steve's aunt gave me a pair of earrings! I wasn't expecting anything!) sang "Happy Birthday" to Steve's grandpa (who is not Jesus, but his birthday's the 24th), and I got to experience my first cheese ball (yum).
Steve and his parents have a tradition of ogling the Christmas displays as they drive home. There weren't many this year, but we did see an awful lot of the leg lamps from "A Christmas Story," since apparently the movie was set in the area Steve lives in. After we got home, we just played video games and surfed the web until bedtime. And I managed to spin my first entire spindle full of singles!
We got woken up for presents (Steve's parents got me stuff too! I seriously did not expect that, either. Lots of socks and some luscious chocolate and a pack of B&B stuff and a Nemo Pez dispenser!) and went off to his dad's mom's house. Steve set up his new Wii and basically ignored me the entire day (GRRRR STUPID BOY) but I had fun hanging out with his cousin for awhile, and playing with the little cousins that showed up later- they're 6, 3, and 10 months, and all of them are a blast to be around. The baby was SO FREAKING CUTE. I wish I'd gotten pictures. He was at the crawling/standing and walking with help stage, and constantly smiling and laughing. The three-year-old little girl was also adorable, if more than a bit hyper, but we certainly had fun chasing each other around. The oldest boy was mostly engrossed in the Wii.
So once the little ones were there (and their parents, who I am not inclined to discuss at the moment, but grrrr), we opened more presents (again, one of Steve's aunts got me a B&B basket and his grandma gave me a pretty pendant...dammit, next year I am making or buying amazing things for ALL OF THEM). The kids were actually more interested in playing with us than the toys they got...the toys couldn't swing them around and chase them, so no contest, I guess. So, I mostly functioned as a giant, mobile toy until we headed out.
We stopped in at Steve's father's best friend's house, and watched The Smoking Gun for awhile, and I lavished much attention on THEIR dog, who is 13 and still very people-friendly, and finally headed back to Steve's own house, where Steve and I packed up and headed over to my place an hour away, back across the Illinois border. And here we are, cuddled in bed- Steve is playing his hax0red XBox, and I'm writing in way too much detail to all of you. Tomorrow we get to go shopping for Wii games, and on Saturday hopefully we can head out to The Fold, which is a fiber shop way out in boofoo land.
I'm really content right now.