Christmas

A bit to my surprise, Christmas 2006 turned out to be a very good one indeed. On Christmas Eve, I went up to Steven's. After suffering through a very bad Steelers game, we exchanged presents. Now, all along, Steven had been saying things to the effect that he hadn't done very well this year present wise - that he just couldn't find any good gifts for me. To me, this was no big deal, especially since I was feeling a bit down due to my sudden lack in Christmas funding a week or so earlier. I enjoy giving, getting them in return is just a bonus. But all that really mattered to me was that I got to be home with the people I love for the holidays. In any case, the first gift he gave me was this little sea turtle puppet. It really is incredibly cute. In fact, I keep having to confiscate it from my mother. The second gift was The Muppets Christmas Carol. Apparently he got sick of me wishing for it play on TV. Now, by now I had given him all of my gifts, but there were still 2 under the tree for me. The hands me the larger one and says "Now...this was a risk. I don't know if you're going to like it or not." Okay.....so I unwrap it and suddenly freeze - questions racing through my mind that centered around the general idea of Is the item ON the box IN the box?? - that classic gift faux-pa where you make a big deal over whats in the box only to find out its a pair of socks. But I was assured that the box was indeed accurate and that their truly was a Canon Rebel xTi digital camera inside that box. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. The last gift was a photography book, which I knew immediately, from the shape as well as just knowing my boyfriend, who, by the way, did a very good job this year.

After our gift exchange and the excitement, we headed over to his mom and dad's house for the traditional Christmas Eve feasting and gift exchanges with them. (I got a very nice 'leather' jacket and 2 very pretty sweaters) The food, as always, was outstanding, and Steven's aunts and uncles, Tom and Linda, and Rick and Debbie stopped by. I was rather surprised that they remembered from me from Steven's cousins wedding which was a few years ago. They were fun to talk to. Uncle Tom immediately began seeking my scientific opinions on his well water, which I found to be rather amusing. It was a good time. Eventually I had to get back home, so we wished everyone a Merry Christmas and headed out.

Christmas day, was the usual. Gifts with my Mom and Dad and then animals at home, breakfast, then over the river (French Creek) and through the woods to Grandma's for the whole family gathering. Christmas morning and home couldn't quite cancel out the fact that it was still, after all, a Monday morning. Since the animals were immediately interested in their packages, we decided to give them all a gift first. Radar got his catnip dogfish and was quite happy rolling around on the floor in the middle of everyone. Then Riley got his talking Parrot and the beagles were unwrapping their toy rabbits. Well, Suzy decided she should have both of them and started a tiff with Annie, stepping on poor Radar in the process. Each parents grabbed a dog, and Radar took up, hitting my coffee mug and sending coffee everywhere. Suzy got timed-out in the bathroom for the rest of Christmas morning (bad time to get a time out) and I went off in search of Radar after cleaning up most of the coffee. I found him sitting the in the hallway looking very disgruntled. I reached down to pick him up and his whole underside was soaked with coffee. Well, we got him cleaned up, along with the house, and eventually Christmas morning went on without any more incidents. Everyone made out pretty darn well. My parents got me an Ipod Shuffle, the Limnology text book I wanted (I know, I'm a huge geek), a tree field guide, an old Betty Crocker cook book like my mom's, treasure boxes, a couple dragon fly things, my mom made me some awesome pottery pieces, and some shirts.

Grandma's was the typical deal. A huge delicious dinner, lots of talking, and more presents, followed by more eating and talking and everyone trying to fight off the desire to lay down and sleep. I truly love my family get togethers. My family is awesome and quite funny. I got even more cool presents, like a super soft blanket, hat and scarf set knitted by my grandma, a goose down throw, candle warmer, and some other small things.

Before we knew it, another Christmas had come and past. I never did get my Christmas snow, but despite that, I really have nothing to complain about. It was a very nice, cozy Christmas. I hope everyone had a Christmas that was equally wonderful.