Christmas Recap

Hello all. Since Evey is on the IR with severe jaw/mouth pain, I decided to take this opportunity to blog a bit about our Christmas experiences this year.

On Christmas Eve, we decided to stay home--not because we're lame, (some may argue that) but because most of our church friends went home for the holidays. We first had our own turkey dinner, with all of the trimmings--stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc. It was very good food, and although I didn't eat too much to make myself sick like last year, I still achieved a food coma, which around the holidays, isn't too difficult to do. After our spread, we decided to watch a movie--Polar Express. A very good holiday movie, but it doesn't hold a candle to the best Christmas movie ever made. Our plans for Christmas day were to go over to the Stumps--pretty much the only family from church that decided to stay home. We finally went to sleep...

...with dreams of sugar-plum fairies dancing in our heads...

And Christmas Day arrived. We woke up at 7 AM--let me rephrase that--Evey woke up at 7 AM to proclaim, "I'm opening my stocking!" Me, in my half-asleep/half-awake state had to take a minute to wake up and realize that it was actually Christmas morning! Once the frenzy commenced, it was not unlike the scene from Christmas Story--wrapping paper flying everywhere, my dog freaking out, and all of us delighting in our gifts from everyone. My main gift to Evey (along with an Old Navy wool coat and pajamas) was a starter's set of golf clubs including the bag and head covers.



Evey's main gift to me (along with a new wallet and leatherman tool) was a Seattle Seahawks jersey with Walter Jones name and number 71 on it. Money.



(Sorry for the poor quality of these pics. Our main digital camera is in for repairs, and these were taken with the backup. But that is another blog for another time...)

So after we opened all of our gifts and consumed copious amounts of candy for 9 AM, we had to start making dessert for our dinner at the Stumps. We decided to make Hot Fudge Cake and Apple Crisp--both Banquet Dessert Bakes. If you haven't tried them yet, they are surprisingly good, and very easy to make. Which I think is the point. Even I can make them, which is saying something.

Off to the Stumps we went. Connie and Mark were nice enough to take us in for the day and feed us. They made a sumptuous pot roast--y'know, the kind that falls apart when you touch it. Mmmmm. There were potatoes, carrots, corn, jello salad, and of course, our desserts rounded out the feast. The Stumps have 3 kids--David (6), Elizabeth (4), and Emma (20 months) who are all very cute and very well-behaved. After dinner, we decided to do--what else? Board games! Scrabble was first, and lately I have struggled. The whole time we were playing, David was putting together his new Rokenbok Construction set which Santa brought him. A very cool toy for his age. Man, if I had these kinds of toys I probably would've become some kind of engineer or something. Instead I had this and this, but at least I had this. But I digress. After getting thoroughly smoked in Scrabble (I had the words, just not the letters) I decided to regain my dignity by teaming up with Evey and taking the Stumps on in a little thing I like to call--Trivial Pursuit.

Now, normally, Evey dislikes playing this game with me, basically because I know things that no mortal should know--except for the sole purpose of winning this game. But this time she decided to play, I think because she was on my side. She performed like a champ though, answering at least 5 or 6 questions correctly! Example: "What NCAA men's college basketball team has won the most national championship tournament games?" Evey answered correctly: Kentucky. Which blew me away, because I thought she answered due to her knowing that Kentucky was a good team--but really, her answer came from the fact that Ashley Judd is such a big fan of the team. But heck, she got it right anyways. We ended up winning the marathon game, although we almost lost our big lead.

So all in all, it was a great Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We had a turkey dinner, a pot roast dinner, gifts, games, and a whole lotta holiday spirit. A Merry belated Christmas to all, and to all a good night!