I'm glad THAT'S over

Okay, not really - it wasn't THAT bad!

I had to go in to work for half a day on Christmas Eve, but that was fine because I had to stop and pick up a last minute gift for Chebbar's uncle.  That evening, we had planned to eat pizza and watch a movie, but our zip.ca rental was not playable; instead, we drove around looking at Christmas lights until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. 

Christmas morning, we got up and opened our stockings and gifts from each other before heading out to Dad's.  (I had decided that confronting him about his bullshit was a lost cause.  The man has been doing this - and has been confronted for it - his whole life: he's not going to stop all of a sudden because I tell him it's unacceptable, especially when I've already tried (and failed) in the past.)  It felt a little awkward walking into the detritus of the gifts of eight other people (in retrospect, this was a nice gesture because it would have been far more awkward to have the fact that we weren't... shopped for as extensively as in the past made painfully obvious in front of a crowd).  We ate brunch, visited for awhile, and headed off to Chebbar's grandmother's within an hour.

We had a great visit at Nana's.  Theo was highly amusing, as he was hopped up on sugar and over the moon for his new R/C helicopter.  Jake was both entranced and frightened of said helicopter after it got just a little too close for comfort: he'd track it with eyes wide as saucers, saying "Whoa!" like Joey Lawrence repeatedly.  It was hilarious.  After turkey dinner with all the trimmings, we bid them adieu and headed back to town for Round Three.

We stopped at home briefly before heading up to Mom & Brad's for "everything dinner" (we have a huge spread of appetizers, crackers, cheeses, meats, chips, veggies, etc. on Christmas Eve: when Nick was four, he coined it the "everything dinner" because he couldn't say h'ors doeuvre).  We ate, played Apples to Apples (awe.some. game) with Taylor and Dan, and dragged our sorry butts home around 10pm.

Round Three, Part Two began at 9am on Boxing Day ("Christmas Day" for those of you playing along at home).  We were all spoiled rotten.  After brunch was consumed, we headed home again to shower and just relax a bit before Turkey Dinner Redux.  We played Apples to Apples again, had a drink or two, and headed home late-ish again. 

We had planned on going grocery shopping on Sunday, but needless to say, we were exhausted, so after a walk by the river and a trip to the walk-in clinic for Chebbar, we vegged for the rest of the day.  I love Christmas, but I'm always secretly a little glad when it's over. 

How was your Christmas?  Did you get that prized wish-list item, or did you brave the crowds for sales?