Artwork tonight is from Peter Elson.

Today was Christmas Day for the rest of the world. Christmas Day for the Ho-Heinichen household.

We made waffles once we finally got up. I slept in, like *genuinely* slept in for the first time in…6 months maybe? I got up at 10:30 to take care of the pups, and then the Ho was up when I got back and we made waffles with the waffle iron we got for Christmas. They were LEGIT. Homemade recipe vs. Krusteaz Belgian waffle mix. Homemade recipe won, of course.

I made strawberries with a little sugar, whipped cream, a bottle of medium amber maple syrup (I know. I didn’t know they came in different amber classifications either), cinnamon banana slices and Nutella were our toppings. It was a smorgasbord. The only thing we realized was missing in hindsight was bacon. That’s a Ho family tradition.

Then we unwrapped the rest of the Christmas gifts that were under the tree not involved in the early Heinichen Family Christmas. Got a lot of gifts from our tenants this year. That was wonderfully heartwarming. Also some stuff from Liz’s family, which came later in the day.

First, we took a nap. Slept for two hours 😛 Apparently I’m tired, guys, this is what I’ve learned. So we took a nice long nap and I got up and fed the pups, and then it was FaceTime with the Ho clan (J flew in today for the one day) to open gifts, and I then went out and walked the pups.

Then, we made dinner, which was mashed potatoes, sautéed spinach with garlic and onions, and rib eye steak. YUUUMMMM. It was so delicious, y’all. Dat steak doe. And dem potatoes doe when they’re mashed. Mmmmm.

We were tired after dinner, but we wanted to go out and check this house with lights and music just down the way from us, and so we went with the pups and it was so cool! The guy actually won the Christmas Lights Battle this year on ABC! He brought out the trophy and everything. His house was totally fun. It was also synchronized with a set of songs, and I mean really synchronized – each character took turns singing various songs, the mouths were actually making the right moves for the lyric, and the dancing figures were totally choreographed. It was impressive.

Then we came home and knocked out two movies for my movie list of 2015. We watched A Very Murray Christmas which was disappointing, and then we watched Becoming Santa which was about this guy in LA that decides he wants to try going out and being Santa, something he got interested in doing after both his parents had passed away and he found this photo of his Dad dressed up as Santa…something he never knew he’d done. It was sooo good. Very much made the Ho and I think about how special Christmas is. And it is.

I hope everyone out there had a wonderful day today. Christmas is a wonderful, wonderful holiday. The best of the year, I think.

Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night!