Christmas 2012

I'm starting to feel the Christmas spirit a little bit more since there are now festivities going on. I spent the weekend before Christmas and Christmas Eve mostly cleaning and organizing the house. The house is clean, but I had to stop organizing just to get it clean in time for the holidays. On Christmas Eve I went to a restaurant called Tiebel's (it is a nicer restaurant where lots of gatherings are at) with my hubby and FIL. We all ended up getting the all-you-can-eat chicken. The whole meal included potato soup, salad, rolls (their rolls are wonderful), mashed potatoes, fried chicken (in which I peeled the skin/breading off but I did steal a few bites of breading), and peppermint ice cream for dessert.

Christmas morning I went to my sister's house for breakfast and opening presents. I got to see my parents, sister, niece, and brother-in-law. My sister made a bunch of goodies and breakfast items. I started off healthy with scrambled eggs, tomatoes, and cheese on a wheat tortilla. Then I went for the sweets.

After breakfast we opened our presents. My niece is three, so she is at the right age to be really into opening presents. She had a very Tinkerbell Christmas, but also got some Barbie stuff and a wooden rocking horse. As for my presents, I got some Bath and Body Works stuff from my sister, a license plate frame from my dad, and a Nook tablet from my parents.

My sister and niece checking out the Tinkerbell doll set.

My mom and dad opening presents.

My dad's present to me.

My parent's present to me.

My sister's present to me (and the stuff in the next picture too).



 

My aunt gave me some music books (pictured above) and made me a little scrapbook of pictures from the concerts we have gone to together.

My birthday present from my sister. I also got it on Christmas since my birthday is at the end of November and we haven't seen each other since then.

I went back home to have lunch with the hubs and FIL. My hubby cooked us a wonderful dinner of a turkey breast, green beans, stuffing, and acorn squash. Unfortunately I was starting to feel ill at this time and wasn't very hungry, but I do have plenty of healthy leftovers.

After lunch we opened gifts starting with the doggies. They got a bunch of those flat, stuffing-free dog toys. They went nuts playing with them. Sebastion grabbed a few, went in the kitchen, and played by himself.

Lilly had fun shredding the paper off of the gifts.

Benjamin went into toy hoarding mode.

I got my hubby the Sonic Racing game for the WiiU, a Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD set, some history DVD's, some work pants, a calendar featuring our dogs as the pictures, and a bunch of snacks in his stocking.

As for my gifts, I got a new computer monitor from my FIL to help out with grad school.

My hubby got me a food steamer, a Final Fantasy music game for the 3DS, two necklaces, and my stocking had one item- a wool scarf (very soft and he got it at a good price!).

I also got some hand made ornaments in the mail from a family member that lives in Georgia.

For dinner we went to BC Osaka's and tried their buffet. The buffet was huge with many choices and you could also have something grilled up with your choice of ingredients. I had mostly chicken with broccoli, fried rice, some green beans, and ice cream for dessert. A very unconventional meal for Christmas Day, but it was a good one.

The day after Christmas we got to spent with friends. Two of them are from out of town and we don't get to see as often, so it was good to see them. We went to Abuelo's for lunch and the hubby and I split an order of chicken fajitas.

Hey, it is my always sideways picture. Gotta take a new one sometime!

After that we came back to the house to talk and play some video games. Later that evening one of my hubby's friends (that was with us earlier that day for lunch), decided to surprise my hubby with his Christmas present. When the hubs and FIL went out for dinner, he came back and we assembled his Christmas present of a new office chair. His friend left and I acted like nothing happened to see how long it would take the hubs to notice his new chair. Unfortunately, he noticed it right away! Not as surprising as we thought.