Christmas highlights

I'd like to thank Jesus for being born on a Tuesday this year, and also thank Michael for deciding to spend the next few months in Utah, prompting our family's early Christmas celebration.  Thanks to these two fine men, I had a lovely four-day weekend to relax and do a whole lot of nothing.

Actually, that's not true at all.  We did lots of stuff.  In somewhat chronological order, we:

• Enjoyed real, hearty breakfasts every day: pancakes, Trader Joe's sausages, bacon, eggs, cinnamon toast... mmmm.
• Exercised (two yoga classes and one good run for me, Krav Maga classes for Joel)
• Bought enough food to last us through a nuclear winter (It's been awhile since our last trip to Sam's Club.  We made up for it by buying enough meat and cereal to last us through to next Christmas)
• Bought even more food (because you just can't buy produce at Sam's.  So we had to go to the grocery store, too.  Naturally.)
• Picked out tentative paint colors for the bedroom (New Year's project: paint the bedroom.  Hopefully.  Now that the samples are up on the wall, neither of us are sure we like them.  I'm about at the point to just use them anyway, who cares if the ceiling color slightly resembles the color of poop, I JUST WANT TO BE DONE WITH THE PAINTING.)
• Cleaned the first floor thoroughly: I'm talking washed the floors, dusted, the whole shebang.  I even sewed up the seam that was coming undone on one of the throw pillowcases (thanks, Ikea, for the excellent craftsmanship!).  Why do I feel the need to take pictures of the house after I've cleaned really well?   I always want to preserve the memories of cleanliness and order for posterity. 
• Saw I Am Legend and National Treasure: Book of Secrets.  My Christmas gift to Joel: I agreed to do a "double feature".   We packed snacks and watched them back to back.  Without paying for the second one.  I usually resist doing this, not because I feel bad about ripping off the movie theater, but because I don't like to waste a whole weekend day in the movies.  But since this was a special 4-day weekend and there were actually two movies that I wanted to see playing, I consented.  It was fun.   I give both  movies a solid B+.
• Looked through recipe books and prepared a veritable Christmas Feast For Two (actually, it was more like a Feast for eleven or twelve.  We'll be eating delicious leftovers for awhile, and I mean that in the best way possible).
• Took a walk on Christmas day through the quiet, peaceful neighborhood.
• Saw the best Christmas window display EVER.
• Opened gifts on Christmas morning in our pajamas.  Even though we didn't get gifts for each other this year (hello, vacation), we did have stockings.  Three, to be exact.  One for Joel, one for me, and one for the cats.  The cats got a load of Christmas toys because their mommy is a crazy person who can't resist buying more toy mice that will invariably end up in the toy graveyard under the oven because these mice are different!  They're red and green and adorable!  (That particular mouse piqued Old Man Max's interest and is no longer with us.  RIP, Christmas mouse.  Sorry that Max ripped your intestines out).  Joel cheated and sneakily bought me several thoughtful stocking stuffers, including a yoga magazine and a box of my beloved Moose Munch.  I got him nothing because we said no presents! I am a bad person.
• I also made out with some good, low-key loot when we went to visit my family two weeks ago.   I got a Starbucks gift card, some adorable note cards (the supply of which I've already depleted considerably), and some supplies for our upcoming trip to Spain -- travel books and Airborne, since my mom is convinced that all my business travel is the root cause of my many colds this year (I'm pretty sure she's right; I got sick approximately once a decade before I started traveling for work).   I also got myself several threadless t-shirts, which I love.  Thanks, me!  You're the best!

So tell me, did you get anything good?  Besides the warmth in your heart that comes from celebrating a joyous holiday, of course.

Comments

[Lara]

Well, my mother-in-law gave me some golf balls that said Happy Father's Day on them. I am neither a golfer nor a father. On the good side of things, I got an awesome bag to store my knitting, some pretty earrings, and two giant stainless steel trash cans. Woot!

[Isabel]

I love this post christmas post. SO AWESOME.

(I also LOVE the haiku shirt. I hadn't seen that one before.)

(refrigerator.)

[Laurel]

Sounds like a wonderful Christmas!

AS and I set a $25 limit for Christmas gifts, because we're going on vacation over New Year's. I spent $27. He spent $50. Silly boys!!

[janet]

Santa was good to me...I should blog about it, huh? That would require, like, doing something on my vacation though.

[Jemima]

Besides high blood pressure and a vein that now throbs in my forehead, Santa was very generous. Simons got me a black dress coat, a ball winder (for knitting, not more perverted pursuits), and his parents got me an atrocious Lohan-esque sweater from Saks that I traded in and was appalled by how much the credit was- Hello, new pair of Joe’s Jeans! And another Sak’s gift card, so I may buy MORE jeans, because that’s all I wear. My parents got me a camel colored dress coat (unheard of largesse, since I’d been asking for one for about 4 years and now I have TWO!) and clothes. My sister brought me a matryoshka doll back from Russia, because I’ve always wanted one. I’m not a doll person generally though, I swear. Except for the 16 I keep in my bedroom and dress them and groom them every day. Oh ahahahahaha! Not really.

Hopefully Santa didn’t give you anymore worms for Christmas.