I know it’s a bit late, but I want to share all the fun we had this year for Christmas. It’s one of my favorite holidays. I love getting together with my family, and I love giving everyone gifts that I picked out especially for them and seeing how much they like them.

We headed up to my parents’ house after work on Christmas Eve, which ended up being mid-afternoon since we both were able to leave early. My family used to go to the Christmas Eve service at our church, which I’ve always loved since it’s an entirely musical service, but since they did away with the carols by candlelight and it’s been harder to get there with us coming from Atlanta and my mom normally having to work, we haven’t gone in the last few years. It’s ok, though, because we’re much less rushed to get Christmas Eve dinner ready.

Our Christmas Eves are always the same — we enjoy a dinner of chow mein and fruit salad, and then we gather in the living room to open presents which, obviously, is the best part.

My brother got my grandpa a puzzle of the cover of the Beatles’ White album, meaning it’s an entirely white puzzle. He didn’t look too thrilled by it. 🙂 But, if anyone can do it, he can. He’s a puzzle whiz.

On Christmas day, Joe and I helped my parents peel 20 pounds of potatoes. Yes, we like our potatoes. We had our traditional lunch, which is the same as our Thanksgiving meal — vegetarian turkey slices with stuffing, wild rice with vegetarian chicken, broccoli and cheese casserole, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and turkey. Yum!

Joe’s parents always come for Christmas dinner, which is nice. I really like how my family spends Hanukkah with them and how they spend Christmas with us. It makes me happy that our families get along so well. The one downside this year was that we were missing Ryan, Ori and Harry. There’s only one more Christmas to go before they’re back, though.

On Christmas Eve eve, Joe and I opened our presents here. We like to open ours together before we go to our respective parents’ houses for the holidays. Joe got me a gift certificate to one of the new spas here in town and an adorable Vera Bradley purse in the limited edition pattern Mediterranean Blue.

There’s a funny story behind the purse. A few days after he bought it, I dragged him into the store in town that sells Vera Bradley bags to look around. The first one I went for was the one he bought me. He managed to get me distracted, and I left with a bag in a different pattern. He thought the owner was going to blow it for him since she had been working when he bought my purse, but she kept it a secret. Funny!

I got Joe this awesome baseball box with cds of music, interviews and memorable moments in baseball history, and I got him this poster:

It was another memorable holiday.