Everyone came home late Christmas Eve. Monika drove up from Madison around 3pm, in time for an Indian dinner out. Erika and Kelly drove over from east Wisconsin after a day of festivities with Kelly's family. Jim drove up to Minneapolis to pick up Jessi and Cody from the airport at 10:30pm. By midnight all three girls were happily in bed in our new home. Of course Balt got me up at 5am for breakfast and a short walk but what surprised me was everyone was up by 8am in the living room ready for Christmas to begin. When they were little, they'd get up at the crack of dawn but then once the teens hit, the hour got later and later. We've turned a corner in holiday timing! It was a very festive time. I made 2 batches of cinnamon rolls, one vegan and the other with eggs, butter and milk. The taste test revealed very little difference, the vegan rolls were fluffier, less dense, but just as tasty. I noticed a difference in gift giving. The girls used to be recipients of many gifts mostly given by Jim and I, sometimes other family sent in (grandparents, etc). This morning's gifts under the tree were mostly from them given to each other or to Jim and I. I tried to limit myself with one big gift to each daughter so they ended up with more from each other. Anyway, the morning was wonderful and seemed more about giving than receiving-- a nice metamorphosis.
By noon Monika and I were working on lunch. We had 3pm movie tickets, so we ended up a bit pressed for time. The meal was so good, everyone was raving that our Christmas meal was so much better than our Thanksgiving meal. The ham came pre-cooked, the turkey did not. While the girls had asked to go to a 6pm showing of Spiderman, I saved over $30 buying tickets for the earlier showing. We were in heated dreamlounger chairs though, which was key. The early show was great, two thumbs up, and it offered us plenty of time for a rented movie at home. Finding a movie we can all agree on is no easy task in our household. We ended up on Krampus, a 2015 horror comedy that hit the spot. Monika was in only because the actors in it. I knew I'd be asleep through most of it, so did not abject to the horror. I have a feeling Krampus will become a traditional part of our holiday! He's a bit more fun to celebrate than St. Nick.
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