Our Christmas was nice and quiet. Of course, we had some unexpected things come up, so we're not quite done celebrating Christmas and probably won't be until the middle of January. We haven't even seen my in-laws yet. So, our tree will stay up until then, which means I may be taking it down just in time for Valentine's Day. At this rate, we're going to be putting Valentine's Day presents under the Christmas tree--suppose I should be glad my tree has a predominantly pink & silver theme. Heh. But, I put it up late this year (during the second week of December rather than at Thanksgiving), so I'm not quite sick of it yet. I'm sure I will be by the time we're done with it, then down it goes until next year.
For the holiday we spent Christmas Eve with our friends. Melanie and Joey had a last minute get together, so we went to that. There was delicious, fattening, I-so-shouldn't-eat-that kinda food (frito pie, chili dogs, s'mores) and some friends came around. We spent most of the visit eating food and chatting with people we haven't seen in a long time, and in one case with a gal we hadn't previously met. We got along famously, of course. Because everyone knows I'm the absolute easiest person around to get alone with. Eh hem. Yeah. But in all seriousness, we did get along beautifully. We all made plans to get together again on January 5th to play 2e AD&D which should be a lot of fun. Definitely looking forward to it.
For Christmas day, Matt and I just hung out. My parents got us Amazon gift cards and my sister got me a recipe card tin with Philadelphia Cream Cheese recipes (all of which look deliciously fattening!!), a really pretty peacock ornament for the tree, and cross stitched me a book mark with a lighthouse and the caption "Books Light Our Way to Knowledge." Matt and I haven't gotten one another gifts yet (but will soon), so we spent the day just sort of being together. Which is, really, what Christmas is about--among other things. We watched some Christmas movies, spent a little while playing 7th Sea, and then went out for Chinese food--Matt was supposed to work but got an early de-crew. A lot of people had the same idea because by the time we got around to eating, the Chinese buffet was quite the popular spot. Lots of people were around. Huge families with kids, couples, even a cop who was having dinner alone... oh man, now that I think about it, that's kind of sad. Except he didn't look at all unhappy, so I suppose it's okay.
We also rode around town some and took in the Christmas lights. Some of the houses were absolutely beautiful, while others were less interesting, and many were completely dark. Matt and I merrily spent the trip "grading" the houses on an academic scale from A+ to F-. Houses with the Christmas tree showing through the windows made an automatic B+, while others made a failing grade for having "no thesis statement." It was really quite fun and something I think we might do every year. My favorite house was one that didn't have traditional lights at all, but that placed a filter on a light in the center of their lawn creating a green sparkly affect, like a thousand emeralds shining in the dark. I wish I could have taken a picture of it. I actually made Matt stop, in the middle of the street in this residential neighborhood, so I could gawk at the house. It was absolutely beautiful.
After that we spent a quiet evening together. Oh, well, there was this moment...
I had posted a picture of me and Chewbi earlier in the day. A friend gave me a hard time about not seeing Matt, so I talked Matt into letting me take a selfie of us. I took several, but this is the one that came out the most clear (he wouldn't sit still long enough for my lens to focus) and that had the most character. So that's our Christmas picture and, sadly, the only picture of the both of us from the entire year. That will change in 2014. There will be pictures of us!
In short (ha!), our holiday has been really lovely. I hope yours was, too! I had some more to talk about, like some pretty big things going on around here right now, but there's no way I can fit them into this already overly long (eh hem, 1200+ word) post. Trying would make this one big christmas-year-end-braindump kinda post. Definitely going to avoid that. Good night!
