Christmas, Christmas, Christmas

What a crazy couple of days it's been.

It all started out Christmas Eve. I had wanted to get Anna's car detailed as her gift for Christmas. I managed to get out of the house with her car without arousing any suspicion. Unfortunately, the detail place had a line and it was going to be 2 to 3 hours before Anna's car would have been done. I could have made excuses, but Anna and Sarah were waiting for me to bring breakfast back for them, so I fessed up to what was going on.

When I finally got home and showed Anna her car, she loved it and Christmas was underway.

We started Christmas out at my sister's house, doing Christmas with my Father's family. Lory had prepared a great meal with Anna providing a ham and Becky providing the turkey. After dinner, we were treated to a mini concert by my nephews, AJ and Kelsey. They had been taking guitar and piano lessons since the summer and wanted to show off their talents.

Once the concert was completed, we got down to the presents. I got a Panther's picture, and Anna got a muffin pan. Sarah got some art supplies, some pajamas, and a Barbie case.

We finished just in time for me to hit the road and head down to Crosstowne where I was running the A/V booth for Christmas Eve service.

The next morning we did Christmas at our house. Anna got a new wedge pillow to replace the one she had about warn out. I got Diplomacy, a game I haven't played since college. Sarah got School House Rock in her stocking, then opened up a Princess Hoodie. Under the Hoodie was a clue to lead her on a scavenger hunt to her final present, a Nintendo DS!

After we were done with Christmas, we headed down to the Island and met up with Anna's family. I spent some time visiting with my Father-in-law and Brother-in-law. After Christmas, we stopped by Sister-in-law's apartment. Man, did that bring back some memories. It was a little bigger, but basically had the same floorplan as the apartment Anna and I lived in right after we got married.

Christmas continued in Summerville at my Mom's place. Sarah got a new game for her DS, and a carrying case. She also got two new Webkins, bringing her total to 14! We had a simple meal of hot dogs and enjoyed some great company. Lory's husband Mike is a computer geek like me and we spent part of the afternoon tweaking out my Mom's new laptop.

Our last Christmas was actually the day after Christmas when our friend Donna came over with her two kids, Jamie and Julie. We exchanged presents, then the kids played while Anna and Donna caught up and I surfed the web a bit.

It was a crazy couple of days, but it really felt like Christmas. It was great seeing all these people that I care about. I know you can't pick your family, but I am blessed to truly enjoy all the people who I got to spend time with over these days.

Let the countdown to next year begin!