Merry Christmas!

We got home from the cruise on Christmas Eve. We had Chinese food for dinner and spent the day doing laundry, watching Christmas movies and resting. We didn't put up our Christmas Countdown on the garage, like we have in year's past. The kids traditionally take a picture in front of the countdown, so they were disappointed. But, we couldn't find it, so we improvised.

We had to time it perfectly to make the sign valid.  Although, I did not add the seconds.

Because of the cruise, we were supposed to have a scaled-back Christmas, but it still felt like a lot. Thomas got me as many presents as he always does, so my pile was pretty big. In fact, Luke commented that I had "55% of the presents." That definitely was not true, but I did have more than anyone else, which made me feel a little (but not too) guilty. Anna commented that she is going to marry someone like Thomas when she grows up. I am always surprised when I read about the men who don't take part in any of the Christmas shopping or wrapping. That is definitely not the case in our house! We had a good time opening our gifts. Everyone had a few surprises that they were excited for. Jack and Anna got new phones last year, but Kara didn't expect one due to the "scaled back Christmas". However, her iPhone 8 wasn't working as well as it had, and it was a double hand-me down, so it was time. I got a large print copy of Pride and Prejudice. Apparently, I asked for this at some point during the year. I like to read, but it is nice to not have to use glasses, so I am sure I thought it would nice to have a copy of my favorite book in large print. As I unwrapped it, Thomas was apologizing and telling me it was not what he expected. It is HUGE. I have never seen a large print book so big. It made me laugh really hard. The print will definitely carry me into old age, but I will have to make sure I keep lifting weights to be able to hold it!

Even scaled back, everyone still received about 8 presents from us and Santa. Then, they had gifts from each other and a few from friends.

They were pretending to glare at me because my stack was bigger :)

Jumbo print

We had a ham dinner with mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. It was all premade, so we did not have to cook. I did make our traditional breakfast casserole, but I made it on the 24th, so it also just had to be reheated. I don't like cooking on Christmas. Or the day after. I think we made it until about the 27th before we finally did some real grocery shopping.

The rest of the week passed in a relaxed manner. We watched movies, including Top Gun: Maverick, Muppets Christmas Carol, Black Adam, The Glass Onion, and That Thing You Do. We did evening walks, read books and I worked on a Harry Potter puzzle Kara gave me for Christmas. It is proving very difficult. When the pieces fit together, it doesn't look hard, but it has a lot of muted colors that are hard to differentiate. I did have to work, but not too much. One day, we went to see the Florida State Marching Band rehearse for the FSU/Oklahoma bowl game. They were amazing! I couldn't believe how loud they were. I think Thomas and I were more impressed than Kara and Jack (Anna and Luke stayed home). After the rehearsal, we went to lunch at Olive Garden. It is Kara's favorite restaurant and we haven't been since we moved to Florida. We used to go there fairly often in Maryland, but just haven't here. 

Other than all of that, Anna and Jack practiced driving. We got some new Christmas lights at Walmart at the post-Christmas sale. Kara went shopping with a friend and enjoyed the clearance sale at Bath and Body Works. One of Luke's friends came over and the boys were determined to go in the pool. That day was fairly warm, but it had been cold, like in the 30s at night, so the pool was cold. But, they felt the water and were confident they could handle it. They jumped in, screamed and jumped back out. It was pretty funny. They did end up playing around the pool for a while, so it wasn't a total bust.  

So, that was Christmas week. Nothing big, nothing exciting, but absolutely amazing. Christmas Day to New Year's Day is probably my favorite week of the year. It is such a peaceful, relaxed time, with no where to be and nothing to do. I love it!

Favorite Gifts:
Luke: a hanging tent for reading
Kara: a new phone 
Anna: an iWatch
Jack: a guitar

Thomas: a new iWatch

Kori: my large print Pride and Prejudice 

Luke in his reading tent. It was hidden in the garage.