Christmas Part One

Christmas was wonderful this year. I was surprised by this because leading up to it, I wasn't in a very Christmas-y mood. I didn't feel like decorating the house (although eventually, I got most of my decorations up), didn't feel like getting a tree and decorating it (in the end we decided it just wasn't worth it this year) and didn't feel like doing much to the outside of the house (I eventually got some lights put up).
Luckily, about two days before Christmas, the right spirit finally hit me and I was ready when Santa arrived.
Chris's sister 'Nara came to stay with us. It was great to have her out here, even though she was sick through so much of our time together (thanks, Charlie Ü). She stayed for about a week and got to go to all the family parties with us.
The night before Christmas Eve we went to Alex and Lacey's house for Chris's family party. It was great. The food was delicious (Lacey sure knows how to cook a turkey) and we got to use cute Christmas-y plates and goblets. I loved them. We opened presents and played with the kids. Chris, 'Nara and I slept over which was very nice. In the morning after french toast, we went sledding. It was a blast. The wind was freezing cold but I was surprisingly warm through it all. Some previous kids had made a jump that we were finally brave enough to go off. I'm happy to say that everyone survived without major injuries. Ü
We stayed through most of the afternoon. It was so nice to just sit and visit without feeling like we needed to be doing anything.
On the way home Chris had a "moment" with another driver who was tailgating him really bad. It ended with the other driver making a sign (yes, this went on long enough that his passenger made a sign, just for us) that said "Cowboys suck" in reference to the big Dallas Cowboys sticker on the back of our jeep. He held it up in his window as he passed us for the last time (I say last because there had been several passes and passing-agains). It had started out as annoying, moved on to Chris getting really upset and 'Nara and I trying not to laugh at Chris' anger, and ended with all three of us laughing at the other driver. Let me tell you, we were all feeling the Christmas spirit. Ü
For Christmas Eve we just stayed at the house, watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and did a puzzle. Chris is just learning that I am a big puzzler. He knew I liked them but didn't realize quite how much. We ended up doing two that night. It was a very nice relaxing night for us. We ended by drinking Russian Refresher (it's kind of like a wassail) and opening our presents from each other. Chris gave me two sweaters that I absolutely LOVE and want to wear all the time. In fact, I need to go throw them in the wash so that I can wear one of them tomorrow. Ü
On a side note, earlier in the month, I saw this is someone's front yard. I think it's hilarious. Ü