Christmas Eve
It's Christmas Eve! We got up and ready by around 1pm and then headed to Grandma's apartment to pick her up and give her a ride to Mom's for our family Christmas Eve gathering.
Since Mom has a pretty small house we thought we'd all end up crammed in like sardines, but as it turned out several branches of the family were visiting other sides of their families this year so luckily there were fewer people than usual. As it was, it was a pretty decent number for the space available. There was a ton of stuff to eat -- I'd brought some nuts and a platter of cubed cheese and salami myself.
This year we started what could be a fun new tradition: the dice game. A long time ago we'd stopped buying gifts for everyone as the family was simply growing too large and nowadays usually only Grandma receives something from everyone. This year Carol called everyone a few days in advance and said she had an idea for a new game and to bring one or two small, unisex, inexpensive gifts (a lot easier than trying to think of what specific people need/want!). They were all wrapped and in a pile on the floor and we passed around 2 pie tins with 2 dice each in them. When the tin is passed to you, you roll the dice and if you get doubles you get to choose a gift from the pile. The tins are kept going around for a decided amount of time, and when the time is up everyone opens the gifts they have so far. Now we can see what everyone else has and the fun begins! We start passing the tins again, and this time when you roll doubles you can steal a gift from someone else's pile. Again, this round goes for a set amount of time and was hilariously fun as people kept stealing certain sought-after gifts back and forth. Kris and I kept taking a small flashlight from each other while some of the other "hot" items was a tin of homemade beef jerkey and a Nerf football. It was a great time, and I hope we'll do it again next year. It made the evening really enjoyable to relax and play a game together.
Jonas and I received a gift certificate to the Chanhassen Dinner Theater and a bottle of cider from Mom and Dean, money from Grandma and a serving tray, bowl, butter knives and an ornament from Dave and Peggy's family. From the game I came away with some peach stationery (woohoo, stationery!), a purple flashlight and some homemade soap.
Everyone started to clear out and head home not too long after the game had ended, so Jonas and I headed home too. When we got home we opened our gifts to each other. I'd ordered Jonas a tiny fridge to put on his desk at work (holds just 6 cans of pop) and also gave him an orange juicer. He got me an astronomy program for my computer and right away I dragged him outside to look at Jupiter and Saturn through my binoculars, but mine are kind of old and one of the lenses was chipped so we couldn't see much. I guess I need some new ones for Christmas next year. :)
Since Mom has a pretty small house we thought we'd all end up crammed in like sardines, but as it turned out several branches of the family were visiting other sides of their families this year so luckily there were fewer people than usual. As it was, it was a pretty decent number for the space available. There was a ton of stuff to eat -- I'd brought some nuts and a platter of cubed cheese and salami myself.
This year we started what could be a fun new tradition: the dice game. A long time ago we'd stopped buying gifts for everyone as the family was simply growing too large and nowadays usually only Grandma receives something from everyone. This year Carol called everyone a few days in advance and said she had an idea for a new game and to bring one or two small, unisex, inexpensive gifts (a lot easier than trying to think of what specific people need/want!). They were all wrapped and in a pile on the floor and we passed around 2 pie tins with 2 dice each in them. When the tin is passed to you, you roll the dice and if you get doubles you get to choose a gift from the pile. The tins are kept going around for a decided amount of time, and when the time is up everyone opens the gifts they have so far. Now we can see what everyone else has and the fun begins! We start passing the tins again, and this time when you roll doubles you can steal a gift from someone else's pile. Again, this round goes for a set amount of time and was hilariously fun as people kept stealing certain sought-after gifts back and forth. Kris and I kept taking a small flashlight from each other while some of the other "hot" items was a tin of homemade beef jerkey and a Nerf football. It was a great time, and I hope we'll do it again next year. It made the evening really enjoyable to relax and play a game together.
Jonas and I received a gift certificate to the Chanhassen Dinner Theater and a bottle of cider from Mom and Dean, money from Grandma and a serving tray, bowl, butter knives and an ornament from Dave and Peggy's family. From the game I came away with some peach stationery (woohoo, stationery!), a purple flashlight and some homemade soap.
Everyone started to clear out and head home not too long after the game had ended, so Jonas and I headed home too. When we got home we opened our gifts to each other. I'd ordered Jonas a tiny fridge to put on his desk at work (holds just 6 cans of pop) and also gave him an orange juicer. He got me an astronomy program for my computer and right away I dragged him outside to look at Jupiter and Saturn through my binoculars, but mine are kind of old and one of the lenses was chipped so we couldn't see much. I guess I need some new ones for Christmas next year. :)