Vacation Recap - Holiday Celebrations

We now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

I'm back! Mostly unpacked, and curled up in my bed, ready to share all the fun and frivolity of the past two weeks. My plan of attack for the vacation recaps is to ignore chronology, and instead share thematically (which makes me think of the never-ending curriculum discussions we'd have over how to teach our students... Historygirlie, I sincerely hope this debate has come up in at least one Wednesday morning meeting this year). So, we begin with the reason for the season - family togetherness and liquor.

NavyGuy and I spent Christmas Eve day with his family. We had a great time making an "interactive" brunch of eggs Benedict (where I got scolded by NavyGuy for not putting the Canadian bacon on the English muffins correctly) and ben-yays (no clue how to spell, so sound it out - those little donuty things from New Orleans that you cover in powdered sugar and then gorge yourself on). Presents followed; the best moment was watching NavyGuy hug his Playstation3. We also got the game Catch Phrase, which I introduced to everyone and it quickly became a hit, with much screaming and trash talking during the game. Then more eating (and drinking). Their traditional Christmas dinner is beef, popovers, and lots of Christmas cookies, all of which I was happy to accomodate.

We drove to my mom's to spend Christmas Eve night (with Sister and her spouse), and woke up early the next morning to attack the tree. My mom made new stockings for Sister's family, including a fabulous little one for the dog. Way too many more presents (yea for mukluks!), and then off to our big family gathering at my aunt's house. My little cousins had a blast showing off all their gifts (the iPod touch never left the twelve year old's hands), and I had the privilege of playing salon with the seven year old, and doing her nails with her new glitter sparkle nail kit. NavyGuy amused himself during the gift opening by texting Sister's hubby, sitting across the room, I drank brandy slush for myself and my pregnant cousin (couldn't let her share go to waste), and we even managed to get an entire family picture taken! (Which gave me a preview into the pain that is going to be family portraits at the wedding come May.)

More yummy food, and we rolled ourselves home to settle on the couch and play with our new toys. Our Christmas celebrations didn't foster a lot of crazy stories or mishaps this year, just happy memories with our families - which is fine by me! Next up: fun with friends.