Weekend Recap

Well, Christmas has come and gone.  Again.  We are now down to the last week of 2011.  I cannot believe how fast this year went by.  It's a little unnerving.  It feels like we've been running on fast-forward for the last 12 months.

The Christmas celebration began on Friday with a half day off work.  Jen and I cleaned like crazy people.  We got the house ready for our Christmas Eve gathering and were ready (almost) to start the celebrating.

On Saturday Jen started cooking and I finished up my wrapping.  The kids came over in time to help with the last minute preparation before Larry and Nawal and their son arrived and the fun began.  We spent all of our energy cleaning upstairs, so of course we all ended up downstairs.  The kids played some piano and impressed everyone (as usual) and Larry's son experienced the thrill of the two Tonka Ambulances.  One is from the 1970's and it's mine (thanks to Jen) and the other is a new model that belongs to my step son.  All of the kids who come to visit marvel at how awesome they are.

We moved back upstairs and Jen's mother, step father, aunt, and uncle arrived.  Later after Larry and Nawal left to go to Larry's parent's Christmas eve party, the kids father and step mother came over and we exchanged some gifts.  The kids had reached a level of excitement that was unbelievable.  The Norad Santa Tracker was up and running all night and the closer they got to presents the crazier they got.  There was actual, literal, bouncing up and down in anticipation.  It was a blast!

The kids slept at their Dad's on Christmas Eve so Jen and I slept a little bit late.  Jen went to get the kids while I took some pre-gift-opening pictures.  When the kids arrived they were wearing matching feetie pajamas that Santa had given them at their Dad's.  They also got new bikes for Dad's house (so we don't have to truck their bikes back and forth) and iPads!  Woah!

At our house my step son got a lap top, he really wanted one, and my step daughter got a 3DS and an iPod Nano.  Jen gave me a new lens for my camera and a 160gig iPod classic.  The kids and I got Jen a charm bracelet.  There were also mountains of books, DVDs, games, and other fun stuff exchanged in every direction.  The big surprise hits of the morning were Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots and a Lego Harry Potter sticker book.  We only had a couple of hours before the kids had to go back to their Dad's so they could go to their aunt and uncles for Christmas dinner, but we had a lot of fun in the time we had.

Gifts were exchanged with Jen's family on Christmas Eve, and with our immediate family on Christmas morning.  That still left my extended family.  After the kids left with their Dad we filled up the van with yet another big batch of presents and headed to my sister's for Christmas dinner.  My sister's whole family, her, her husband, and both kids, were all sick but they put on a great Christmas dinner anyway.  My parents were there, along with me and Jen and my brother and his wife and two kids.  It was my youngest nephew's first Christmas and the two older kids are old enough now to really get into it.  We had the obligatory scratching of the lottery tickets followed by gifts for the kids and Secret Santa for the grown ups.  Again, everyone had a blast.  Thanks to Auntie Lisa and Uncle Ken for hosting.

On Monday Jen went to work for a couple of hours, and we went to a Five Guys for lunch.  It lived up to the hype, although the french fries were kinda bland without salt.  Who would have imagined a fast food restaurant that only made burgers and fries and just makes them really well.  I can think of two or three other fast food joints that could benefit by following that model.  Just saying.

The rest of the day was spent in flake mode.  We actually both took a much needed nap in the evening.  I cleaned up my iTunes library on my MacBook and started the long process of loading it all onto my new iPod.  We watched a little Star Wars on blu ray, another great gift that the love of my life gave me.  I uploaded my Christmas pictures and checked out the results of the new lens.  I like them very much.

Today we're back to work for a short week, and next weekend is another three day weekend as we celebrate New Year's.  Unfortunately I will be on call for the whole thing, but we'll have the kids with us so we'll have a great holiday at home.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas too (where applicable) and here's to a Happy New Year!

HoHoHo!