Christmas and stuff...

Since my family is spread out in New Jersey, everyone pretty much does their own thing on Christmas.  The weekend after, however, we all get together at my aunt’s in Point Pleasant to celebrate post-Christmas and my gram’s birthday.  It’s usually a great time.

When the three of us became a family five years ago, Darryl,

Tiernen's favorite!

Tiernen, and I started creating our own Christmas tradition.  On Christmas Eve, we go out to dinner.  Usually it’s someplace we don’t frequent (an Indian restaurant in Syracuse, a new sushi place, Cambodian or Thai) but this year because of my surgery, Darryl wanted to stay close by… Olive Garden (his choice, not mine).  I do not love Italian food (irony), but it was still pretty good.  Tiernen could live on their soup and salad.  Also ironically, that’s all she ordered this year.

Reverend Eve putting the star on our UU tree.

I joined the UU three years ago, and we’ve been attending Christmas Eve services since.  I really enjoy UUUtica.  Darryl and Tiernen don’t attend, but I can usually get them to attend on Christmas Eve.  I was really happy to introduce them to my favorite church family.  There are two small children aged five (the brother) and three (the sister) who I adore.  The little girl has been wanting to meet Tiernen for weeks (she’s going to work in the nursery and just hasn’t gotten cleared yet).  I introduced the little boy to Tiernen.  He smiled.  Then I introduced him to Darryl.  His response?  “I’ve met enough of your family!”  That kid cracks me right up.

Can you guess whose stocking is whose?

Christmas day, we have dinner at home, just us.  Breakfast is always cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa with candy canes.  We open presents.  We open our stockings… you know, typical stuff.  This year, I got lots of clothes from Darryl (guess what color?) because I’m hoping that after this swelling goes down I will actually look good in clothes.  Tiernen got me a manicure and pedicure from my favorite salon.  I am thrilled.

Lunch is light:  Brie wrapped in filo dough and raspberries with crackers.  Dinner is a humongous affair.  We start cooking around 4 or 5 and don’t actually have dinner until 8.  We actually make way more food than three people could actually ever eat.  We eat until we are so full, our bellies hurt.  More food is packed into glass storage containers than is actually consumed.  We will eat it tomorrow for lunch… and probably dinner. 

We never learn.

Of course, we buy presents for the four-legged members of our family.  Nox and Zephyr get bones.  Viktor, Misha, Zazen, and Bodhi get treats. I would love to buy the cats catnip toys, but Zephyr would just eat them.  At dinnertime, all the animals get a special Christmas dinner too:  stinky wet foot on individual plates.  Darryl timed Zephyr’s stinky food eating:  she finished hers in a minute ten seconds.

I love our house at Christmas.  I’m not overly religious, but I was

Super cute and not too religious-y

raised Catholic, so I have a teeny tiny nativity set.  Of course, because it’s me, it’s kind of cartoonish, but I like it.  I used to put it underneath the tree once upon a time, but the cats kept playing soccer with the Christ child and I figured that was just some bad juju.  Now it stays up on a sofa table… better to keep my cats free from temptation (and hell).

Ignore the dark parts.

We usually put up a tree the day after Thanksgiving (fake, just in case you were wondering because despite the delicious scent of a real pine tree, the dead needles are murder to vacuum out of the carpet).  This year, the tree had to wait a few days because we were in Texas visiting Darryl’s grandmother.  We take it down New Year’s Day.  Darryl wants to take it down December 26, but I told him that’s not how we do it (“we” meaning how my gram taught me).  Darryl wanted a Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown tree...

tree, so I we have one of those too.  It is in addition to, not in lieu of.  I like plain ornaments, but since Darryl joined our family, Bobby Orr and Darth Vadar ornaments have now entered the picture.  Um, no comment.

My favorite!

My favorite Christmas decoration by far is a ceramic tree that my gram made in the ‘70s.  There are all these little holes in it where you put multicolored bulbs (I prefer the blue, but Tiernen nixed – pun intended – that idea).  You put a light bulb in it and plug it in and voila, cute little Christmas tree.  I love it.  My best friend Michelle referred to it as cheesy, but I don’t care.  For as long as I’m alive (or it is in one piece), I will keep that tree. 

But you know what, the most important part of Christmas is spending time with the two people I love most in the entire world.  It’s corny as hell, I know, but it’s true. 

Recycling is the reason for the season, right?

Love, love, love!