Dec 24

I so envy the animals! As I was scrambling around getting panicked over the cooking, cleaning, shopping, wrapping, they are all perfectly chill, relaxed, and probably wondering what the hell is wrong with me. Adorable little Oliver is always Mr. Mellow. He likes to find a cozy spot, sprawl out, and watch the excitement.

Hunter saved up his own money to buy a christmas present for Carrie. She was his cat until a couple of years ago, when his dad said she needed to go to a new home. She came to live with us then and we love her and take care of her, but she's still Hunter's. Every time he comes over, the first thing he does is go looking for Carrie to give her some love, then he has to find and greet all of the other cats.

Xmas eve day, we always have Orinda and the boys come over for a bit to do our gift exchange. Denny & Susan also join us for our traditional winter spirits. Dej didn't want to have butterballs with us, so she brought Jaggermeister, which is perhaps the most repulsive beverage (with the exception of jaljeera) ever.

I think the kids all liked their gifts from one another. Logan got a big magic kit, which is perfect for a nine-year old. His five-year old brother was absolutely entranced by the magic kit. He liked his gift, which was an age-appropriate game, but he was clearly salivating over the very cool magic kit. I felt so bad for him! Logan is an extremely polite boy and a great big brother, so I'm sure he will let Colton try a few tricks or be his assistant.

Orinda was overly generous again this year and brought us a Roku! We have nothing like that, as we basically rock the 80's-90's AV technology in our house. It was a bit of a trick to get it working with our very old TV (it's hooked up through our old, but less old VCR). It works great and we've been enjoying watching our Instant Netflix & Amazon-on-Demand shows on the tv rather than the laptop. It's pretty cool!

We always enjoy our visit and tend to lose track of the time, which ends up with us all scrambling to get our food and gifts gathered up and get to my mom's for the family party on time. I always struggle with having that many people around. Large groups of people stress me phenomenally! It's an important family tradition which has been going on for longer than I've been alive, so we go, and I'm glad my kids get to experience it as well.

Photo above is of my parents and Nala. Below are the girls with their cousins (my brother's boys). The hat L is wearing (and has been wearing for days) was a gift from Hunter. She loves it!