Christmas fun

I don't know where to begin. . .

I had a great Christmas. And with the exception of the "I don't want to go back there" mood I was in yesterday, it was a perfect trip.

After I got to my parent's house on Saturday mom and I got to cooking. I made an apple pie. Ok well, I mixed cinnamon and sugar with the apples that my wonderful daddy peeled and sliced for me, put them into the pie pan with the store-bought pie crust (which is really really good), then popped it into the oven. It was absolutely wonderful.
Then I made my chocolate-nutella truffles. It was so much fun! I felt like a kid playing in mud. I got to dig my hands into chocolate, roll it in balls then dunk them into melted chocolate and coat them in crushed hazelnuts. It was so much fun. And more importantly they tasted really good. I also have my dad to thank for cracking the hazelnuts. He's so helpful doing the things nobody likes to do too much. And plus he can do it while sitting in his chair watching TV ;-)
Mom made some things too (including her baklava) and we listened to Christmas music all afternoon.

Saturday night after enjoying a meal of chicken enchiladas (made by yours truly), we all went to see The Pursuit of Happyness. It was excellent. It's an amazing story. My favorite part is when Will Smith's character is at a church during worship and his son is sitting next to him. In the midst of the singing and people lifting their hands, he sits down, picks up his son, and holds him tight. What a picture. I love when Jesus shows up in the movies.

We went to my sister's on Sunday to open up presents then opened more presents later that night after Aaron got off work. I got some fun stuff, including much wanted Cardinals World Series loot. OH! And more to say about my wonderful dad. He got me a DVD with two Cary Grant movies including Charade which I've been wanting for a real long time! I kept wanting him to tape it for me off TV when it was on but he found it on DVD for me. In case you don't know what the movie is, it's the movie that Vivian is watching at one point in Pretty Woman. "did you say marriage license? Oh I love you, Peter, Alex, whatever your name is." Along with Cary Grant, it has Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matheau, and James Colburn.

My neice and nephew are so cute. Morgan loved her CD and Jackson was a goofball when he opened his present. I got him his thing called Illustory. You write and illustrate and story then mail it in and the company makes a hard-bound book for you. Morgan got one from her cousin when we went to Mississippi and you could tell Jackson wanted one too. Well when he opened it, Morgan said "Jackson you got what you wanted!" and then Jackson said, "I didn't really want it, but I still like it." Ha! That boy kept looking at it and talking about it all the way back from Mississippi. I bet he'll do a good job, especially with his illustrations.

There was a candlelight/communion service at Dad's church Sunday night. Mom got a special treat: I sang per her request. She loved it, but of course, I thought I did horrible. I haven't sung in awhile and it was a song that I didn't know all that well and I didn't have much practice. Oh well, I was happy to do it for her. It made me think of how much I miss singing and wish I could do it more often. I don't really have the chance nowadays.

And of course Christmas day itself was great. As usual we went to my grandparents and had a great dinner. Then came time to open presents. It's so funny; we all cram into my grandparents' living room which isn't all that big. I think there were about 20 of us all together. The most fun is after opening presents. We have a wrapping paper fight. I don't really remember how it got started, I think it was when my cousin's kids were little, but every year now we throw wrapping paper at each other. It's the highlight of the day. This year, it seemed to be my uncle's mission (along with my cousin's little boy and a couple of the other kids) to hit me with every piece of wrapping paper he came across. I think the best part is watching my 80-year-old grandpa sitting back in his easy chair with his feet up, collecting wads of wrapping paper with a sly look on his face, then hitting someone square in the head! It's hilarious!

It was a wonderful weekend, although way too short. It was really hard for me to come back. And unfortunately it put me in a sour mood all day. I could barely make it through lunch at steak-n-shake without crying. But I got back ok, work was ok, and I am all unpacked and gettng my apartment cleaned up.

I had an amazing time. I love Christmas. I'm so thankful I got to be with my family.