Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01817

Christmas Day here was a bit different than past years. We were going to be spending the entire day on our own because we’re spending the next couple of days with family on the Cape. We started off our morning with Stockings and cinnamon rolls. Allison made them fresh the other day and we had plenty for our morning. We took our time with everything and slowly opened our gifts.

We didn’t go fully overboard this year because there was one big gift for everyone and Allison and I had already given ourselves a night out as a gift so we were a bit more reserved with the overall gift giving this year. Allison got the kids each some stuffed animals from IKEA that they loved. Andy got a octopus and Eva a shark. I just know that Eva is going to do some project with that. Andy was a the prankster by wrapping a can of soup for me that looked like a mug. I have this thing about the number of mugs we have in the house. There are too many so when we were shopping and Andy suggested getting Allison a mug I was adamant about not getting her one. so instead Andy has honed in on my dislike of mugs cluttering the house and decided to play a joke on me. Was pretty funny.

It was nice to just take it easy for the day. Gifts in the morning and wings for lunch was nice. We also did facetime with Mimi and Dano and then with Memere and Grandfather.

the big gift this year was a 3D printer. This thing is massive and will live in my office. I’m having the kids learn how to create 3D models on tinkercad. I’m also going to learn how to use that program as well and hopefully we can start making some really cool stuff.

We had a nice dinner of the BBQ things that we got from Chubs. I also picked up corn bread loaves and cole slaw and beans to round out the meal. We evan had some leftovers that we froze to enjoy on New Years Eve. It was a nice day spent enjoying family time. We ended the night by watching Scrooged as a family. Andy fell asleep on Allison because they had been up very early.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01816

Christmas Eve this year was a little different. I worked overnight and normally I try and take both the weekend of Christmas and the Weekend of New Years off. However, with the small group that I am part of I did not want to leave everyone in a lurch so I did work a couple nights this weekend and had today off to get ready for tomorrow. I slept for a bit and when I got up I went over to Chubs Blue Pig BBQ to pick up our Christmas meal.

This year since we were not going to be with everyone in the family we decided to switch things up and go for BBQ instead. Chubs had a order form a couple of weeks back so that we could get a few things that we liked and we could pick them up on Christmas Eve to warm them up on Christmas day. We went with ribs, pulled pork, wings and mac and cheese. I was able to pop in and pick everything up and get home to get ready for the rest of the day.

We went to 4pm Mass at Sacred Heart. It was not packed as it had been on past years but there were also 3 4pm Masses happening at once so that helped spread out the crowds. After Mass I had the kids go and pose in front of the Nativity Scene. Something that we’ve done so many years. Missed it last year while we were in Florida but most other years we were able to get that shot.

After Mass we came home and had our Christmas Eve chicken stew with my sister Shelby and her husband Tim and my nephew and niece. It was nice to have them come over so that the kids could play together and we could share a meal. We had a very nice time hosting and were glad that they could come down.

Allison and I finished up by getting the gifts under the tree and then watching some Christmas Movies including my favorite, Christmas Vacation. It is funny watching the sanitized for TV version but I do like the uncut one much more. So many funny parts in that movie.