Best Christmas Ever
Christmas has come and gone. Our house is now quiet, all of our guests have gone home. I had really high expectations for this Christmas: it was our first actually celebrating in our house, not traveling away to visit, the first time in many years to get to celebrate with my parents, and our friends Greg and Gitte and their children were spending it with us.
My OCD kicked into high gear about two weeks prior. We had the house decked out this year! More lights outside than we've ever had - which doesn't mean it was tacky, just that we actually had some. We made a huge wreath for the side of the house (which Ned freaked out about and barked at for a few days) and had lights all around our deck. We got the BIGGEST tree we've ever had - 10 foot! Frasier fir. Also the prettiest tree we've ever had. Even had to buy more balls it was so big we needed more ornaments! We also had to make our table bigger. Our tiny 4 seater from IKEA just doesn't hack it for entertaining. I took one of the bad doors from the remodeled back room and taped it to the dining room table. Then covered it with our good holiday tablecloth - it looked great! really - you couldn't tell. It was nice to actually have room on the table and not be eating touching elbows.
We had a few parties, Friday before Christmas we had a nice get together - about 20 people. Very mixed crowd. You always end up having to entertain the odd balls, and not getting to actually hang out with the people you wanted to. But it was a good time. Dan got a keg a Yuengling in for it. Always nice to have good beer easily accesible for the holidays. After Christmas we had a small gathering as well. Jodi and Neeta came over. Which means I was in heaven. I had four of my closest girlfriends in the same room at once. The only thing they all have in common is me, but they all get along great. I got a great photo taken of us all that I'll post.
Saturday G&G came in. I was so looking forward to just spending as much time with them as possible. Dreading them moving back to England in the spring. I think my parents were also looking forward to seeing them and their kids. I think they had a great time. I just really wanted to give them a great last Christmas in the states to remember. I think we succeeded. We had so much food in the house it was ridiculous. I finally broke my fertility diet and ate my weight in cheese!! mmmmmcheeeeese!
We had Christmas dinner Christmas eve, this way Christmas day was just spent relaxing, eating and napping. Christmas day it took us 2 full hours to open all the presents. G&G brought a lot from relatives, and my parents went way over board this year and bought us way too much. Dan's big gift this year was a huge shop vac. He loved it. Ned made out as well, he got lots of chew toys in his stocking. I was a pretty lucky girl myself. Dan seriously made up for zilching on my birthday. He got me a pair of Frye Boots. I've been wanting a pair for years, and just assumed it would be awhile before I ever got a pair. They're the kind of thing you have forever. They're prefect too, plain, brown, tall, square toed cowboy boots. I love them! I also got "Donnie Darko", lots of stocking stuffers, a cool shirt from Australia, jammies and a sweater. Not bad. But to be honest, I just loved having my house full of family and friends. I loved it loud and chaotic and messy. As OCD as I am about cleaning and pickingup after everone, and as exhausting hosting is, I hate it when everyone leaves and the house is quiet again. Christmas is when I wish we had kids, especially to pass traditions down to. This Christmas my best gift was spending it with everyone I love.
My OCD kicked into high gear about two weeks prior. We had the house decked out this year! More lights outside than we've ever had - which doesn't mean it was tacky, just that we actually had some. We made a huge wreath for the side of the house (which Ned freaked out about and barked at for a few days) and had lights all around our deck. We got the BIGGEST tree we've ever had - 10 foot! Frasier fir. Also the prettiest tree we've ever had. Even had to buy more balls it was so big we needed more ornaments! We also had to make our table bigger. Our tiny 4 seater from IKEA just doesn't hack it for entertaining. I took one of the bad doors from the remodeled back room and taped it to the dining room table. Then covered it with our good holiday tablecloth - it looked great! really - you couldn't tell. It was nice to actually have room on the table and not be eating touching elbows.
We had a few parties, Friday before Christmas we had a nice get together - about 20 people. Very mixed crowd. You always end up having to entertain the odd balls, and not getting to actually hang out with the people you wanted to. But it was a good time. Dan got a keg a Yuengling in for it. Always nice to have good beer easily accesible for the holidays. After Christmas we had a small gathering as well. Jodi and Neeta came over. Which means I was in heaven. I had four of my closest girlfriends in the same room at once. The only thing they all have in common is me, but they all get along great. I got a great photo taken of us all that I'll post.
Saturday G&G came in. I was so looking forward to just spending as much time with them as possible. Dreading them moving back to England in the spring. I think my parents were also looking forward to seeing them and their kids. I think they had a great time. I just really wanted to give them a great last Christmas in the states to remember. I think we succeeded. We had so much food in the house it was ridiculous. I finally broke my fertility diet and ate my weight in cheese!! mmmmmcheeeeese!
We had Christmas dinner Christmas eve, this way Christmas day was just spent relaxing, eating and napping. Christmas day it took us 2 full hours to open all the presents. G&G brought a lot from relatives, and my parents went way over board this year and bought us way too much. Dan's big gift this year was a huge shop vac. He loved it. Ned made out as well, he got lots of chew toys in his stocking. I was a pretty lucky girl myself. Dan seriously made up for zilching on my birthday. He got me a pair of Frye Boots. I've been wanting a pair for years, and just assumed it would be awhile before I ever got a pair. They're the kind of thing you have forever. They're prefect too, plain, brown, tall, square toed cowboy boots. I love them! I also got "Donnie Darko", lots of stocking stuffers, a cool shirt from Australia, jammies and a sweater. Not bad. But to be honest, I just loved having my house full of family and friends. I loved it loud and chaotic and messy. As OCD as I am about cleaning and pickingup after everone, and as exhausting hosting is, I hate it when everyone leaves and the house is quiet again. Christmas is when I wish we had kids, especially to pass traditions down to. This Christmas my best gift was spending it with everyone I love.
posted by Ren at 11:17 AM
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