Christmas is of course one of my favorite holidays. I'm a sucker for tradition, I'm not big on change, so tradition is a happy time for me. Traditions help solidify memories and keep these organized, plus I enjoy all of the traditions that we've established. Christmas Eve is just me and the parents. In the past we took the day to go have lunch with my grandmother on my mom's side and visit her brother to deliver goodies, but since my grandmother's passing this tradition has fallen away, so now it is just a time spent with the parents. We get a movie, not always a Christmas movie, but more often than not it is and watch it during dinner. This year it was A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott (I also watched the MST3K version of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians earlier in the day but that wasn't part of any tradition). Our Christmas Eve dinner is a tri-tip roast with baked potatoes, a Caesar salad and garlic bread with a dessert of cherry pie, none of it strctly home made (tri-tip is pre-marinated, salad comes from a bag, garlic bread is pre-made and the cherry pie is canned cherries + frozen crust), but it's still a great meal and it's all about enjoying the movie together. Plus any tri-tip is good tri-tip if cooked right, which my mom does quite well. Then I follow it up by watching A Christmas Carol in bed before I sleep, ever since TBS started showing it 24 hours.
Christmas morning hasn't changed since I was a little kid, except with me getting up progressively later as the years go on. When I was a kid I was the first one up, then the second and this year for the first time ever, I slept in until 9 and was the last one up. It may have had something to do with the fact I had stayed up until 2 am and slept until noon for the past few days and had stayed up until 2 the night before. But it was an okay break in tradition and made the transition into gift opening much easier, I think. We turned on the log on TV (this has replaced Christmas music on the stereo over the years, since it's just plain cooler, I mean what beats a fake fire on TV?) Stocking gifts are first, then regular gifts. Of highlight from my parents were some Disney/Star Wars stuff, a book about my Nikon D40 (operation, tips and tricks type stuff), some of the Star Wars books I needed and the newer version of the Car Spotters Bible, the book I used to identify the cars I take pictures of. This book puts all the same pictures from the past book in color, does away with the seperation between decade groups, and carries with it some of the flaws from the previous version like giving some cars their own sections for no reasons (Mustang and Thunderbird have their own section, but all other Fords are together, except Falcons), as well as adding some new flaws such as removing all the Chevy II-era Novas and not including pre-40 vehicles. But otherwise it's nice to own, especially since my original copy is falling apart.
Traditional Christmas morning breakfast followed, except this time it got mixed up a little. In the past it was scrambled eggs with leftover tri-tip mixed in and toast, this year it was tri-tip and cheese omlettes and breakfast sausage with toast. I much prefer this version, as I much prefer my dad's omlettes over scrambled eggs and the meat intregates much better with it. This breakfast is late and big enough to eliminate the need for lunch.
In the afternoon we headed to my grandparents for the rest of the events. This year I was looking forward to it a lot, as it would be the first Christmas for Evelyn where she would actually know what was going on, as her actual first Christmas she was only 6 months, and wasn't really aware of the signifcance of it all. She was being a cute brat the whole day, going around the kitchen demanding everyone give her chips and run between Lindsay's room and the living room. First thing was of course stockings, which Evelyn wasn't much interested in once she got hold of one toy she really liked. Because of the relatively large size of the family, I rarely see what anyone else is getting unless they are in my immediate vincinity, so it's a bit odd. Next was some time for snacking before the main presents. All the grandkids got one big "Santa" gift from my grandparents and I think Vanessa was the most enamored with her's over everyone, as she got a Wii which she has been wanting since it came out. She nearly passed out, I almost expected her to slip into N64-kid mode. Mine was a Magellan GPS, which I only recently wanted, as I realized at SSU I was printing out way too many Google maps to get around, the fact I have a shitpoor sense of direction and would get somewhat lost quite regularly. I was quite happy with this, I'm hoping it will work out well for me. I also got a bunch of car washing supplies from my Aunt and a crazy Marc Ecko Darth Vader shirt that I'll end up returning because it's way too flamboyant and fancy for my tastes.
Evelyn wasn't too into the whole gift upwrapping thing. She opend up her present from her father, a easel and demanded her mother open it for her, rather than go for any other presents. She eventually moved onto her other presents. She got a tea set that she really loved and played with for the rest of the night. She also got a ton of books from both myself and my mom, me giving her two Eric Carle books, the Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Brown Bear What Do You See, the former being my most favorite book from childhood. I'm hoping she enjoys it as well, and I think with her amount of intelligence, I can see her beginning to read much earlier than most other kids, if her level of speech is any sign (she is only 18 months but probably has the speech patterns of a two year old). I joked with Vanessa we're going to turn her into a nerd. But that's not a bad thing, I mean her uncle is a nerd.
After the presents and subsequent recovery, the Wii was set up and fun was had by most playing Wii Sports. Even my dad and aunt joined in on the fun. I think Ernie ended up playing more than Vanessa however. I think everyone will get a lot of use out of the Wii. Many of my memories with Vanessa at my grandparents were filled with playing SNES, so I see the Wii fitting very well into that household, until she moves to Sacramento and taking it with her.
Christmas dinner was the usual ham, though it was missing the traditional spinach casserole as there was no spinach in Concord apparantly. While it wasn't a very together dinner, with various members of the family not eating dinner at the table, it was still very nice and enjoyable, even though Evelyn was becomming quite cranky at this part. The rest of the night was filled with more Wii playing and dessert.
Overall it was a very good Christmas, it reminded me how much I enjoy my family no matter how many stupid things they do, how annoying they can be and how much changes, they are still a great part of me. I'm looking forward to next year's, as Evelyn gets older and is able to enjoy everything more.
And now for some pictures. All my Christmas 2008 pictures can be found in thier Flickr set.
The Christmas tree at home
At one point the autofocus on my camera said this was in focus, I didn't agree but thought it made a good shot
The Star topper, I refuse to have an angel on our tree as it looks like the tree is shoved up the angel's ass
My mom's mini-Christmas village
The nativity scene. This year I decided to mess with it. I put my Christmas C-3PO Galactic Hero in at first and later put in a Homie looking over the baby Jesus. Threepio was found almost immediately, but the homie had to be pointed out. I put him back in later thought. He just works perfectly in the scene.
The numerous stockings at my grandparent's, they were placed in the family room this year as there was no room for them in the living room
My grandma always does a great job with the tree, I can only imagine the time she spends with it
Vanessa and Ernie with their drinks of choice, though Vanessa could barely finish that margarita
Not sure why Evelyn was making this goofy face, but I like this shot
I never ask anyone to smile for my shots, especially Evelyn. She does it automatically when she sees a camera, her mother has her well trained.
So that was my Christmas. I hope everyone who does celebrate also had a great time and a Happy New Year to all
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