Christmas went well this year. We didn’t leave the house but hosted two gatherings: my Mom and Aunt in the morning and a houseful of Mike’s side of the family plus two friends in the afternoon and for dinner.
Initially, we had planned to take the family out for dinner — we’d made a reservation at a local hotel restaurant — but ultimately decided to think “outside the box” and set up a dining area in the basement. It worked really well; everyone was happy and no one dropped the turkey down the stairs.
For the most part, Mike managed the cooking and I managed the clean-up (really thankful that we have a dishwasher to help with that task). The most challenging part was divvying up the leftovers, of which there were many — we had a 23lb turkey, a 12lb(ish) spiral-cut ham, and salmon for the pescetarian plus all the usual sides. And then there was dessert. PHEW.
As gifts go, there were games and DVDs a-plenty, some books (Kiddo got two vegetarian cook books) and some treats. Kiddo got lots of LEGO (she got the big train set and some racers); I got Mike a book on building a shed (the first leg of our reno project — it will eventually become a workshop) as well as a notebook to use for planning the project and a gift card to Rona for any new tool(s) he needs to get it done. Mike bought me a new macro lens for my DSLR — wOO!
After the last of our guests had left we controlled the remaining chaos, let the cats out of their “safe zone” and curled up in front of our respective screens for some down-time.
Aside from taking my Mom & Aunt to the ferry terminal in the morning, our Boxing Day consists of very little (though I may search through iTunes for some new goodies with the gift cards I received). We are not planning to hit the malls (or even login at 12:01 am for a little online wallet damage) or do much of anything except relax and eat leftovers and play with our new toys.
You deserve the rest after all that entertaining. We are expecting a major snowstorm to start later today, so I am gearing up for an early morning bread and milk run. Then I am hunkering down with the family.
I don’t envy you that, Star. We have no snow in the foreseeable forecast (touch wood) and will be travelling to Vancouver this week which also has no snow forecast. PHEW!