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Post by Little Sven on Dec 24, 2014 13:07:41 GMT
Christmas Eve is once again upon us. Merry Christmas, guys! I hope you'll have a great time with your loved ones.
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Post by Freddy Peterson on Dec 24, 2014 16:16:45 GMT
Our first Christmas in our new home. Glad to have old and new friends gathered together once again.
May your days be merry and bright... and may your holiday be filled with laughs and golden experiences.
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Post by Freddy Peterson on Dec 26, 2014 14:35:19 GMT
I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Mine was very nice, although the big "whoosh" of excitement didn't seem to come this year as in those past.
Christmas Eve I played Santa Claus for a big family (long-time friends), then headed to my mom's for dinner. We ate, played cards, opened a few presents and had a nice, quiet little evening. Then I jumped back into the Santa suit and headed about 40 minutes east to a friend's home. They are a young married couple, and the husband was diagnosed with cancer in October. It is aggressive, and in different parts of his body, but he is responding well to treatments. He was feeling pretty low, according to his wife, so I wanted to go out and give them some fun. Santa arrived and surprised him, and we had a great visit.
I got home around 10:00pm Christmas Eve, changed clothes, then delivered some surprise gifts to my grandmother's house. For several years my sister and I have packed a box of assorted things, and Santa Claus arrives overnight. That way when she gets up Christmas morning there is something new to open under her tree. We leave the box on the front or back porch, and she calls my mom (usually) before 8am with the announcement. We think she knows it's us, but we don't want to let on about it.
Christmas morning I went to my mom's around 9am (after the AT&T DSL tech was at my house turning my internet back on - YAY) and opened presents and ate breakfast. Back home around 1pm, a quick nap, then off to my grandmother's house at 4pm for family Christmas. We did a White Elephant exchange for the first time, and had a lot of fun. Everyone participated, and some of the gifts were great, while others were so "ehhh" that they went back to the original owner. Good food and fun for sure!
How was every else's Christmas? Let's hear how your Yuletide turned out!
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Post by Little Sven on Dec 26, 2014 15:22:08 GMT
Wow, that's an eventful Christmas! Sounds like you had lots of fun. What's a White Elephant Exchange?
We were supposed to have Christmas at our place this year since my wife is pregnant and if we had our baby, it would be best to be at home since he'd just be a couple of days old. However, my stepdad was having a bad day (he suffers from dementia), so me and my wife (who was feeling well) decided it would be best to take Christmas to their place instead. It worked out great. It was us, my parents, my brother and his wife and two children and my wife's sister. Had a great dinner, opened our presents and then played the Christmas Present game, which is always fun. I ended the night watching Jingle All the Way for the seventeenth year in a row.
We had a very nice Christmas this year, which will be our last with just the two of us.
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Post by Freddy Peterson on Dec 26, 2014 16:36:57 GMT
Wow, that's an eventful Christmas! Sounds like you had lots of fun. What's a White Elephant Exchange? The idea is that you give gifts of things you already have - not gifts bought specifically for a person. You might have a nice coffee mug that you received, or a sweater that you never wore. It's not a "give away because it's used" exchange, but giving something you just don't need. The better part is that you can play "dirty Santa" in the exchange. The participants draw numbers, and open their gifts one at a time. After all the gifts have been opened, everyone re-draws numbers, and the first person can keep his/her gift, or trade it with someone else. A gift may only be traded twice (our rules), so if there is something really good, it can be traded and then traded again, and then that owner has it. I gave an Indianapolis Colts cap and wood picture frame away. My aunt had several old DVDs that she never watched, and she threw in microwave popcorn. One aunt did a case (12 cans) of Vienna Sausages, and a cousin did a candle holder. They all got swapped and re-swapped... and I took the Vienna Sausages (to use as dog treats). Definitely a fun experience!!
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