Today was another successful Christmas into the books.
This christmas snuck up on me. Big time. I usually ease into the holidays, even when it seems like they’ve come upon me super quick. It all starts to slow down around Thanksgiving, and I get into the holiday spirit from there. I really didn’t do that this year. We didn’t decorate, I didn’t listen to christmas music, really…I didn’t really eat any christmas goodies like cider or eggnog or whatnot. And man, it really just jumped up on me this year.
I’m not sure I’m a fan of that, actually. I’m putting it out there that I’d like to be more festive next year. One of the huge goals for 2018 is going to be “work-life-balance.” I don’t feel like I’ve been particularly healthy or consistent in that regard for the past two years. I want to change that in 2018.
But…back to Christmas.
We woke up decently early, around 8:30, and immediately saw it was super icy outside. Plans to go see JJ at her house on the other side of town were scrapped shortly thereafter, and instead, Liz and I had some breakfast together and made sure we had all of our stuff packed up and ready to go. I took a shower, Liz finished the TNG sweater crew image, which is our lovely featured photo tonight, and then it was time to go.
Scott picked us up, and we loaded everything into the car. Their Lexus SUV has all-wheel drive, so it handled the snow and ice like a champ. My parents were already over at Scaddie’s, and we showed up right when JJ and Mike arrived, so from there, it was a pretty quick slip into us all sitting down and having breakfast together. J brought bacon, which was delicious. Addie made her signature cinnamon rolls, and we also had a crap ton of eggs, and biscuits from when Liz when and got some from Pine Street Biscuits. Mmmmmm. That apple butter doe.
THEN, we all opened presents Ho-style. J and Liz exchanged stuff, and Julianne also had gifts for most everyone else there. It was awesome. After that, we just hung out for a couple hours and then bam, it was already time to head over to the airport to catch our flight.
Checking in was a breeze. Seriously, do TSA pre-check if you have the option. It’s so, so dope. Made it to our flight on time…Cooper pooped in the airport hallway just outside the Pet Relief area, for whatever fracking reason…boarded easy enough, right in the very back because Burbank de-planes from the back as well as the front…flight was quick and easy, and then we were stepping out into the relatively warm, dry SoCal air.
We headed over to the Kings after that and had dinner there with all the kids, Matt’s parents, and Mido and Anna were there too with their two kids. It was a FULL HOUSE. We read books together, and learned how to pet Coco and be very gentle, and got to catch up with Matt and Cat. We’re taking the King kids out for ice cream this year, and they get to go to a book store and pick out a book. Looking forward to it 🙂
Finally…we came home and we quasi un-packed, and we opened all the gifts we had at home for each other. I swung and missed on these embroidery threads (damnit!), but she liked the gift card I got her. She got me a NINTENDO SWITCH. I knew what it was, because I’m a freaking loser…I found out via a feature in Amazon wish lists that told me I was adding something that I’d already purchased…but it’s awesome. We played a little Mario Kart together. It’s a slick machine. SO MANY other great gifts in there, too…but it’s super, super late and I need to sleep 😛 Perhaps I’ll detail more of the gifts tomorrow. We’ll see.
All in all…another incredible, incredible Christmas. Very successful. I love my family so much. Very grateful I got to spend time with them.
Night!