A Very Merry Christmas

I am so very thankful that we were able to spend Christmas with our families this year. On Christmas Eve we had a great party at Terry and Emma's house--a potluck with a white elephant gift exchange, Christmas carols, and reading of the story of Christ's birth found in Luke. It was actually the first Christmas Eve party I've ever planned, and it was a big success. All the food groups were represented in the delicious potluck meal, the little kids ran around and had fun, and the adults talked and had fun. On Christmas morning Paul, Andrew, and I headed over to my parent's house as early as we could to open stalkings, eat our traditional crepe breakfast (not 'till 11 am, mind you), and then open presents.
Paul, Andrew, and I then headed out to the Battle Ground skate park for a little bit to try out his new skateboard that I got him. (The muscle to the right of my tailbone is still a little sore from when I fell flat on my back, but I don't think I have permanent damage).
It seems like typically Christmas afternoons and evenings tend to be kind of boring, but this year we had a special guest coming for the evening so we had something to look forward to. Diya, a friend of Paul's from his master's program at Carnegie Mellon, had been working in Seattle on a contract job, so she took the train down to spend Christmas evening with us. We fed her the oh-so-traditional (not) Christmas dinner of baked potatoes with barbecued pork and then played a few games of Clue, our new favorite game and almost the only board game that Paul will play. All in all, it was a great holiday.