A good Christmas�

2006-12-26

I really had a nice Christmas. Started on Christmas Eve when my husband and I open our presents to each other. I got my husband an illuminated keyboard so he can play WoW in the dark if he wants to, and some other doodads that only he appreciates.

He got me a book. That sounds boring, but sooo not. It�s this book. My physical library has expanded enormously over the years. We may be seeing a decrease in that trend.

He also got us another stay at the B&B at Big Bear Lake. I told him before that he could give us that for every birthday and Christmas until further notice. I�m glad he listened.

On Christmas day I went over to my folks early and helped get things together for the big meal. We didn�t have any sour cream for dip, so I went to the local liquor store to pick some up. They shouted �Merry Christmas� at me as I walked in the door. The owner checked the expiration date on the sour cream before he sold it to me and the counter girl was commenting on how a kid had grown when they came in the door. Those little details just made it seem more Christmas to me. Some always has to go pick up some forgotten item.

Youngest sister and her family, the Spouse and Stepson showed up at the same time, a half hour early. I was glad they did. It made the house more cheerful, filled up with people. The kids immediately latched onto stepson as a source of amusement. He was cheerful, tolerant and a merciless tickler. Between him and the handheld video games they got, it was a quieter than normal get together.

Mom ran out of steam just before we got the turkey out of the oven, so she napped on the couch while Youngest Sister and I made gravy, made dessert, mashed potatoes and got stuff on the table. Youngest Sister made the dessert and mashed the potatoes while I struggled with the gravy, so I don�t really have anything to complain about.

My ever-resourceful Dad made a long table some years ago because my Mom didn�t like the fact that we couldn�t all sit at the same table. So the Wonderful Spouse, Brother-in-Law wrestled the thing out of the rafters in the garage and assembled it. Only my Dad would come up with a solution like that.

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