I think I said a million times how well it went on Christmas Eve - and now you can see for yourself!

Due to the whole staying-up-til-3-am thing the night before, Christmas Day got a late start. I woke up around 10 and Liz, Albert, and I got dressed and went down to open our stockings. We have to wait at the top of the stairs before we can go down to see the stockings which are hung over the mantel in the front room which is at the bottom of the stairs. I'm hoping this is the last year we did that. o.O Liz wanted coffee before we did anything and I wanted my hair done (Liz did a french braid for me). Albert still wants us to go down in our PJs. OH well. Anyway, our stockings had mostly candy in them but I also got a funky Christmas bracelet and a reusable lint roller (that you just rinse off to clean it).

We had breakfast around noon (oops!) which consisted of Egg Puff (egg, cheese, and bread casserole), Praline Topped French Toast casserole, BACON, and fruit salad. Yum, yum, yum. Everyone was up, dressed, and coffee'ed for breakfast. :-)

It took us a while to open all the presents (and mom kept disappearing to wrap more. :-P), but here's what I finally ended up with:
( the haul )

Adam arrived after we exchanged the bulk of the presents and Karin left shortly after. For dinner we had a standing rib roast that was extremely delicious. We had roasted potatoes (that were the boiled potatoes the day before), delicious creamed spinach, and more of the loaf of bread I made on Christmas Eve morning. Everything was very good!

After dinner, we watched Beyond the Pale (Jim Gaffigan's first DVD stand-up show). HILARIOUS. I bought it as a share gift for the family. :-) When that was over, dessert was ready - Risgrynsgröt (swedish rice pudding) and cookies. YUMMY! After dessert, we finally finished opening the rest of the presents (presents for Adam and a couple others). It was about 11:30pm when we were finished and Mike headed home so he could rest up before he had to work on Friday. Adam left shortly after than and then I accidentally kept Mom and Liz up until 1:30am looking at cake wrecks. :-D

Wednesday (Christmas Eve), I had work in the morning and around noon Sathish told us we could go home for the day. Best tradition ever. :-)

I went home and the loaf of bread I had started before I left for work in the morning was just finished. Garlic Herb Bread! Yum. I took it out to let it cool off, and then I finished wrapping presents, finished baking cookies, and packed up my clothes. Getting everything in the car was a royal pain in the you-know-where because it was POURING RAIN and the parking lot was a SHEET OF ICE STILL! I really don't understand it when there is rain and ice is not melting. :-( It made the drive over to my parents a little iffy on the back-back roads, but otherwise was okay.

I got to my parent's house around 3 and helped mom get things ready for the Smörgåsbord. Aunt Karin came not very long after me and we chatted while getting things ready for the evening. This year, the Smörgåsbord consisted of: rye bread, wasa bread, the bread I made, Swedish Meatballs, boiled potatoes, a small ham, pickled herring and sour cream, Gouda (cheese), Havarti (cheese), Fontina (cheese), and Bruna Bönor (Swedish baked brown beans). Karin also brought some excellent cheese spreads with crackers that we nibbled on as the food was getting ready to be served.

Lindsay (my good friend from High School) and Liz's boyfriend (Adam) joined us for dinner and we ate around 5:30. Mike had to work until 5:30, but ended up actually working until 6:30 and didn't get to my parent's house until after 8pm. He was just in time for cookies! (And we saved him some food from dinner, too.)

Much fun was had until I had to leave to be at the church at 10pm and Mom and Albert had to be there at 10:15. The church was bizarrely empty for a Christmas Eve service (Where were all the C/E-ers??!?! Don't know!) The weather had cleared up by that point and all the ice was melted and it was 40-something degrees out. Not sure what the low turn-out was about.

My solo went so well. I can not WAIT to get the video online to show all of you. It just went really well. No one set anything on fire while having the candles lit, except that Liz did mention to get wax on my camcorder. At least it was just on the top part and I could scrape it off easily.

After church, we got home at about 1:30 and Mike went straight to bed (he slept in the basement on the sectional - super comfy). Mom, Liz, and I put together the breakfast casseroles for the morning, and somehow I didn't get to sleep until 3am!!!! INSANITY. I haven't stayed up that late since probably New Years Eve last year.

I'm tired. It was fun. Yeah, that's all I got right now.

Like that? :-P More later. Video by the end of the weekend (please hold me to this!!!).

Also, almost caught up on LJ.

Wednesday night, Dad took us to the Allen Theatre to see The Pursuit of Happyness. It was very good. I didn't cry nearly as much as I thought I would - but I did find myself yelling at the characters. :-P Heather, if you still want to see it with me (not sure when!) I'd definitely be up for seeing it again.

(Aside: Is it just me, or does the guy on the right in the picture of the Knife and Fork Band look familiar? Might just be me.)

Last night (Thursday), I went over to Mike's to make him soup and grilled cheese sandwiches because he still is not feeling well! WTF! His voice was all raspy and weird (sounds like his voice is changing! awww) but was feeling good enough to want to go to the movies. We end up seeing Night at the Museum which was Very Funny - but they weren't taking passes. Bah.

We also opened the package that arrived earlier this week from memeslayer. Mike LOVED his gift. We had a good laugh over it (a matted drawing of Mr. T-eal'c saying "I pity the Goa'uld"!) And now I've got to figure out when I can get to Barnes and Noble. Hm.

Also, Mike gave me my Christmas present... a beautiful necklace/earring set. I have them on right now, actually. YAY pretty! :-)

The rest of the family went and picked a Christmas tree today. I stayed home (feeling sick. :-/) but *YEA* for living vicariously through the pictures taken! Here they are:

http://pics.livejournal.com/tenthz/gallery/0001r5wk