December 23-25

• We celebrated Christmas with the Treibers' & the Johnstons' at our house on Wednesday.
• Bart brined a turkey for dinner, and it was delicious! I was a bit skeptical about the whole thing, and I must say it turned out to be the moistest, tastiest bird ever. Too much good food all around, from appetizers to desserts.
• Enjoyed our first ever 'nowhere to go' Christmas Eve. Ever since I can remember, the holidays have been split between my Dad & Mom; when we married, we just added another family into the mix. We try to divide the time equally on holidays...sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't, but we have never had a Christmas Eve where we weren't expected to be somewhere. It was really nice to just be able to hang out in our pj's most of the day and go at our own pace.
• We attempted to shop in downtown Northville a little, but everything was closed! I thought by going early (2 ish), stores would still be open. Not so much. Oh well, we did get some coffee and fresh air!
• Wrapped presents while the kids played upstairs. During the day. Awesome.
• Watched 'Transformers 2' with the kids.
• Hot tubbed! The tub was 105 degrees and a cold wind was blowing- in other words, perfection!

Ev patiently waiting to dig into the bounty

Evan and Papa Fred

Emma & Grammy Sandy

our festive holiday table

I guess we were pretty good this year!

Grammy Cozy, Papa Jim, Em & Ev

me & Evan in the tub

walking the deserted streets of Northville on Christmas Eve

...and Norman, 7th grade science turtle out and about

• I caught Evan sneaking around the living room in the dark at 12:30. His excuse? "I'm getting a drink of water". Ha. And I was born yesterday.
• Got a late start on Christmas morning! Emma was up at 6:30. but let the rest of us sleep while she texted friends. I got up before Evan at 8:30. Unheard of!
• It poured rain all day, heavily. Melted all the snow and killed my ice candles.
• Gifts opened in approximately 52.7 seconds. Best gift? I got a Kindle!!! It is the coolest thing. I've had so much fun playing with it. Unfortunately I had just started a new book from the library, so I want to finish it before i start another. I've downloaded 3 books and a blog to it so far, and my wish list is long :)
• My Mom & Stepdad came over for ham dinner and to spend the day with us. More eating. Lots of bickering and refusals to nap. Then the kids spent 3 hours in the basement while we watched 'Star Trek'. It was quiet and peaceful and totally unlike them!