Christmas Eve is usually a calm sort of event around here. During the day I tend to hang out around the house, avoid the crazies who are still out shopping, and read a book or something. This year we did go out to get sushi at Edo for lunch- we were practically the only people there, which was nice!
At 4pm we bundled up and went to Willowbrook for Christmas Eve services. Singing carols by candlelight has become one of my most favorite parts of the holiday.
Darren's parents went to the 5pm service (Willowbrook literally has to have four services to get everyone in) and we weren't due to be at his sister's house until 6, so we had a little more down time, or at least time to load up the car with everyone's gifts.
At Stephanie and Jeff's house we had the traditional Christmas Eve fondue with family. Mmmm, yummy fondue steak, and a great cheese fondue, too!
And then everyone gathered in the living room to open gifts. I remember the first year I was present for this, I was kind of...amazed. My family is very orderly about opening gifts- they are handed out to people one or two at a time and everyone watches as each person opens. Darren's family, though, has a massive free-for-all with everyone opening anything and everything all at once! I think I still have a little culture shock about it sometimes. :)
There is definitely a connection between this tree photo and the photo of Mike with his new Nerf gun. Darren and Jeff got together and for some reason decided to see if they could aim the Nerf rifle well enough to target ornaments on the tree. Stephanie was NOT happy about it (I don't blame her- some of those ornaments are really expensive)- I've never actually seen Darren cringe like that! I had to try so hard not to laugh while she was yelling at them. :)
And then it was back to the dining room for dessert- chocolate fondue!
Steph tried to get Mike to read "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," but by this point it was 9pm and he was tired and not having any of it!
After a fun 3 hours with family, we packed up and headed back home for another round of hanging out and chilling at the house. I think we actually watched an episode of Farscape before heading off to bed. Quiet days like that are sometimes (okay, almost always), the best. :)
Great post! I'm totally stealing your pics. And your narrative. So I don't have to do one. :-) I truly did LOL when I got to the picture of Mike reading. That wasn't how I remembered it, but pics don't lie! :-)
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