Merry! Merry? Not Quite Sure

So, this is being a rather different Christmas for us, and I'm still deciding what I think.

A few months ago Doug and I started talking about Christmas this year and thought that perhaps the family would like to go adventuring instead of getting "cheap plastic toys made in China", as Nick likes to say. We thought San Diego would be a fun (warm) place to take the kids and they were ALL on board with the idea.

We made sure they understood that THIS would be "Christmas", they would get their Santa gift and that would be all. Okay, they said. Sounds great, they said.

So plane tickets were bought. A rental car was reserved. A beach house was decided upon. And no shopping was done.

A very strange feeling. I realized how much I enjoy Christmas shopping. It has been kind of hard to NOT be in the hustle and bustle. And what about all the deals I'm seeing on the news! I haven't been a part of ANY of that. It kind of hurts.

Today we drove down the mountain to go to a family party, which was wonderful fun. (No pictures. duh.) Tonight we are at Gramma's because tomorrow, Christmas Day, we fly to San Diego.

Gramma's tree

Our tradition, born of my Danish roots on my Mom's side, is to have a smörgåsbord on Christmas Eve with lots of food. Then nobody has to cook on Christmas Day! I have fun childhood memories of our Christmas Eve festivities, helping my Mom get the food ready.

So what did we do tonight, on this night when Sam and Fred had been busy at the mall selling stuff to other people out catching the great deals? And they still had to go pack? And by the time they got to Gramma's it was close to 9:00? And all the good eating places were closed?

This is so funny!

We had BETO'S Mexican 24 hour food for Christmas Eve!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!

This really is pretty funny. Good thing the food is pretty darn good.


Well, along the lines of something a bit more in keeping with the holiday...we have been doing a "Secret Santa" thing for a young family that is new to our area. Abbie had the fun task of running to the porch and placing the gift, ringing the door bell, and running for her life!


Last night Abbie biffed it in the snow bank. I think she may have done it on purpose because she knew there was a camera watching her. But I could be wrong...


And just to show the mound of snow who is really the boss, she played "I'm the King of Bunker Hill" for a moment (does anyone know that game?).

Doing the Secret Santa was fun and we did get to buy SOME stuff!

So back to tonight...

The stockings are hung...


The cookie and milk are placed just so...

(eh hem, the cookie was purchased at a gas station store around 10:00 tonight. One cookie. That's all the jolly elf gets. That's how nutty this night has been.)

I sang Christmas songs to Abbie while she fell asleep, just to help her remember what this is really all about. And I talked to her about Mary holding her new little baby, and about Jesus and why He came to earth and the gift He gave to us.

We are having a different Christmas this year, and that isn't a bad thing. We get to be together as a family for 8 days and I expect there will be tons of laughter and lots of good times.

And you know all those winter-snow pictures I've posted? I did that because I knew we were heading towards the sand and the sea and I'm going to love the contrast!

Merry Christmas!