Christmas is Over

I can hardly believe it … Didn't it all go by in the blink of an eye?! I know there were a few moments when I really sat there and tried to let it sink all in. I just lurve Christmas.

Of course, I got many fun, pretty, useful things, but I had an even better time giving the gifts that I gave. I didn't give that many gifts that people knew they were getting and I made my mom cry (in a good way) which is always one of my Christmas directives. Kelly and I gave her and dad photo calendars from Ofoto that turned out beautifully. Another favorite gift I (we) gave was a necklace to Matt's sister, which had one of her favorite things … a shamrock with a little stone in her favorite color, green. We also got Matt's mom, a photographer, a brag-book style photo album. I put a graphic in the front with a sort-of logoey feel and then we thought she could put some of her professional photos in there and carry it with her to show off. One of my faves too was the photobook we got my sis. We got her an early xmas present and she also wanted some photos, so I had Snapfish print me up a bunch that she chose and then I put them in a little album for her. But I hated the idea that her entire gift would be expected, so I took a picture of Matt wearing jeans and a white t'shirt and I used Photoshop to impose “Sparky Loves You!” on the front of his t'shirt (Sparky is her pet-name for him) and I stuck that in the midst of all her photos. There were other good gifts too and in a lot of ways, I really would love to do nothing more than stay at home and relax and watch DVDs and read and play with some new toys. But alas, there are few vacation days to go around and so many plans in the future to use them … so here I am once again.

Anyhoo, aside from the prezzies, Christmas was most enjoyable. We have it in three parts … immediate family Christmas at my parents' house, morning brunch Christmas with extended family at my Grandma's house and then Christmas Dinner with extended family wherever. And this year it was at my parents' house.

We played lotsa games over the weekend. My mom got the new Cranium Turbo edition which is slightly different than the regular variety. That was loads of fun. Then we also played Cranium Conga, which is also a blast. It's a guess-what-I-answered sort of game and it's a lot about luck, so it's not competitive at all. And of course, there was the fair share of Pictionary and James Bond and Simpsons' Road Rage.

Today Matt's mom and his siblings head back to Nashville and we regroup and get it all together for yet another round of festivities: college friends, New Year's and skiing in Vail. I can't wait!