So, how was your holiday??

[Rei-chan]

This year, things were pretty good! 

We started out at my Dad's on Christmas Eve, and hung out for about 4 hours.  I didn't let the stepmonster get to me (although she tried hard to do so)  and we got out before her kids and grandkids got there.

After we got home, DH surprised me with what he called "A Solstice Survival Kit" (and yes, I know the Solstice has passed before this) so I got to chill out with 2 new CDs (Evanescence and Daughtry) and play Final Fantasy 12 while drinking a glass of my fave dessert wine (Nivoli).

On to Christmas Day:  we went to DH's grandmothers houses, ate a lot and hung out with his parents (whom I LOVE).  We got a great surprise as when FIL was holding DH's baby cousin, he asked me "So, when are ya'll gonna gift us with one of these?".  This was cute, to me, because his Dad said it in such a way that was endearing, not pushy.  FIL is a rather quiet man, and the fact that he was interested in us having kids meant a lot to me, especially after the way my Dad and SM reacted to the idea.

All in all, it was a great holiday!  Now it's time to head back into retail h3ll tomorrow and boy I am dreading that!   

So how did ya'll's celebrations go??

[Gileswench]

Glad to hear things went so well for you, Willow!

My Christmas was quiet, but pleasant. Okay, Christmas Eve was a little hectic because my beloved is allergic to Christmas shopping before the very last minute, so we had to go out and pick up things for several people...including my beloved's gift to me!

Anyway, we joined the throngs of last-nanosecond shoppers in the streets of Berkeley. There was a huge crafts show on one of the main streets, so I was able to get a couple really unique gifts for people for very little cash. Then we came home. Our next-door neighbors invited us to come eat with them, but, alas, my beloved had some work he needed to get done and he wasn't doing it alone. We thanked them for their kind thoughts and said we couldn't stay. Well, they proceeded to fill up a huge platter with homemade tamales and sent over about a washtub of homemade pozole, too! Have I mentioned I love my neighbors? I was really glad I'd filled up the pretty platter I gave them with homemade brownies!

Christmas itself started a little on the late side, because my beloved needed to sleep in a bit. That was fine. My brother and I got our necessary caffiene (my coffee and his tea), checked our email and LJ activities, and had a chat while we waited for my beloved to rise and greet the world. Then I cooked a hearty breakfast and we opened our gifts. After gifts, my beloved went back to his work (it was in the house, but he's on a tight deadline with the project and it means a lot to him), and my brother and I sat down with some tea and a couple movies. In between movies, I cooked the Christmas pot roast and we talked with good friends and another of my brothers who called.

No huge deals, no super-incredible gifts of wonder, no fireworks; just a lovely day spent with people I love sharing what we have happily.

And now I hear that a couple we weren't expecting to see up this way for a while are in town and planning to come by tonight! I can't wait! The Christmas cheer is definitely spread around.

I do hope other eHellions will share how their holidays went.

[Sandi Papaya]

My Christmas Eve was pretty good...we had a little lunch with just my mom, my aunt, my grandpa and me. We exchanged and opened gifts because we knew that I wasn't going to Christmas Eve dinner at my cousin's house (which is a whoooooole different saga - see the thread in Family & Children) because I was still pretty sick. My impression was that it was going to be Christmas dinner on the 25th, but I was mistaken.

Christmas eve I spent alone, watching movies until about 9 pm, at which time I decided I was too tired and tried to get to sleep, but people kept calling: my mom called about 3 times to ask about stuff she'd left at the house, my brother called to come by and drop off my present from the babies, and another couple of calls I didn't answer. My mom got home around 11, with my grandpa in tow. He stayed the weekend with us.

Christmas Day was pretty quiet - our big family celebration is Christmas Eve, so there's not much to do on the 25th except maybe stay home and rest, or visit, or phone family that's far away and etc. I'm still sick, so I spent most of the day in bed, but unintentionally pulled an all-nighter because I'd had so much sleep the night before. I went to bed around 7 am this morning and woke up after 2 pm. Tonight's my knitting group, but I'm still so sick and exhausted that I don't plan on going.  In fact, I'm probably going to just take a shower and go back to bed and watch TV for a while. I really need to start getting back on a normal schedule, because after 3.5 months of no work, I go back next Tuesday. I'm kind of scared but excited.

[Cupcake Fiend]

Our holidays were great!

Christmas Eve we did some last-minute shopping, then headed over to my MIL's to celebrate Christmas with MIL, SFIL, 3 BIL's, SIL and nephew.  FIL cooked a pork roast and we exchanged a few presents and played a game of Canasta while the boys played with their new toys.  I also took a bunch of pictures of Nephew (4 months old) to make a collage for BIL and SIL for a present.  Put Thing 1 and Thing 2 in their jammies to come home and drove around looking at Christmas lights until they fell asleep.

DH and I stayed up wrapping presents, uploading pictures, and enjoying a very special bottle of wine a friend gave us, until about 2 AM 

They slept until about 8:30 AM on Christmas Day, and when they woke up we all went downstairs to see what Santa had brought us.  They had a wonderful time opening their presents, we ate breakfast, then took naps.  A good friend of DH's and my BIL came over after lunchtime to hang out for a little while, then we went over to MIL's again to celebrate with the rest of the family (MIL, SFIL, SIL, 2 BILs, GMIL, GFIL, and nephew).  MORE presents were exchanged, snacks and dinner (prime rib, again made by SFIL) were eaten, and a good time was had by all.

Got home, and went to upload the pictures and found out my memory card had gotten wiped out somehow.  Cried.  Looked around the insane masses of wrapping paper and packages in my living room and decided it had been a great Christmas.

I never did try calling SFIL "dad" but I figure if I'm forcing the idea then the time isn't right.  It'll come or it won't.

Now, I'm just prepping for New Year's weekend.  3 parties - 2 of which we're hosting.   I think I'll take the 2nd off from work to recuperate.

[Brentwood]

Good. We went to Minnesota to visit families for Christmas - we had a week's worth of gatherings and doings, and three days' worth of big parties, presents, and feasting.

[Clara Bow]

Insane....my in laws were here Christmas Eve and left Christmas morning and now my parents are here. But they're leaving tommorrow and I can get my house back in order (I love my mother but she is the biggest mess in the world....) and get some quiet.
But the gifts were great, and the stuff I got for folks went over well and my son has had a ball. So all in all a good time was had by all!

[fklwmn]

My christmas was pretty good this year. the Marine drove up for Christmas Eve and since I (for the first year EVER!) had completed all of my shopping and wrapping and other errands beforehand, we had a lovely relaxing day. We went to church and baked cookies and then the boys went to their dads' houses and we just hung out for the most part and had our small just-the-two-of-us gft exchange. It was my best Christmas Eve ever!

He left @ dinner time and I went to my parents' for dinner. the kids got dropped off there and we did our Xmas eve gifts (we always get to open ONE gift on Christmas eve - and it's always pajamas!) and we went home where I put the boys to bed and then promptly fell asleep on the couch!

I woke up @ 11:30 and was dragging myself to bed when I remembered it was Christmas Eve and I needed to put out the Santa stuff. Got that taken care of and crawled in bed around 1am.

The boys woke me up at the first sign of daylight and we did Santa presents (which were super fast this year since my kids only got school supplies from him ) Then we opened our presents at home. Once we finished all that, we cleaned up, got dressed and headed to my parents' house for our traditional Christmas brunch (sausage eggs and cinnamon rolls... yumm!).

THEN we opened presents with my parents, cleaned up, loaded the car, and set off for NC for the extended family Christmas with all of my aunts/uncles/cousins. This year we couldn't hold it in my aunts' house like we usually do b/c my grandmother had another stroke recently and was hospitalized. Once she was in the hospital she contracted a HORRIBLE bacterial infection of some sort. My aunt has been so busy managing her care that she couldn't get her house ready to host.

My other aunt (who was in town to see my grandmother, and for the olidays) got the church to let us use their 'coffee shop' for our gathering, which was actually GREAT! there was plenty of seating, a pool table, and a kitchen and a kitchenette. And for once, we didn't all sit around watching movies, but actually hung out with each other

We ate lasagna (4 kinds this year!) and salads and lots of pie... then we opened presents, cleaned up, and set off one small group at a time to visit with my grandma before heading home. The kids stayed at my parents' house since I had to work the next day and I finally got home around 11pm.

I love Christmas!

[Esther_bunny]

Crazy!
Saturday afternoon we drove 3.5 hours to get to DFW.
Saturday night was an open house Christmas party at BF's Father's. Sunday from 11am-2.30pm we did Christmas at my dad's. Then from 3-6 we did Christmas at BF's Grandmother's. After that, we did Christmas at BF's mom's (just gifts to and from the us & parents, not the extended family).
Monday morning we went to BF's dad's to do the gift exchange. We were out at my mom's by 2.30 and stayed until 6pm and drove 3.5 hours back home.
BF was sick the whole time and I just ended up a big ball of anxiety and pain. I actually hid in BF's mom's bathroom and cried at one point b/c I was so stressed and it was causing stomach pain and I was just plain exhausted.
Then my mom got mad b/c she said she wanted us to be there at Christmas (because she was out of town last Christmas) and we didn't know she meant the *entire* day (and not see any of our other family).
But other than that it was good. I got to see my uncle and his wife and I rarely get to see them.
Our Christmas is typically like that though- very stressful and more driving than anything. I want to try and change some things up for next Christmas. (Of course my mom was hurt that I couldn't spend all day with her so she's taking a cruise next year.)


I'm thinking Mexico sounds fun for Christmas next year!

[Alida]

This was such a wonderful holiday.  Good friends, loving family, lots of food. 

Every Christmas Eve we finish off, after the family leaves after dinner, with Christmas story read from the Bible before DD opens her Christmas PJs and stuffed critter before bed.  Then DH and I enjoyed a Christmas Bailey's

More fun - I left the webcam up this year, so friends got to see the insanity that was my house for a few hours.


Oh!  And my closest friends?  Sent me 10 lbs of incredible chocolate.  How can Christmas be anything BUT amazing with that in the house?