A different Christmas

Altho I didn't have to put up with the ridiculously long drives that Katy and Corey did, I know what Katy means - this was the first year I didn't wake up in my old bed at my parents' house (we slept in our apartment), and even tho our morning at the Askeys' was lovely, I just didn't feel Christmasy because I didn't have my comforting tradition of waking up at home, stockings followed by breakfast followed by presents, then Gommy visiting, and a lazy afternoon of Trivial Pursuit with Hannah.

I think next year I'm going to start a tradition of Paul and I spending some time just the two of us at our place on Christmas morning, and also eliminate one stop on the Christmas schedule: Going to Askeys, Killians, and Snyders all in one day was just too much moving around for Christmas, even tho they are all close by. Now that the Askeys are obviously a necessary stop, I think it's time to eliminate the Snyders for dinner on Christmas day. I need more quality time with my immediate family. Next year, I want to wake up at my apartment, do a little bit of private Christmas time with just Paul and me, and then split the rest of the day in half between Askey and Killian time. We do the Lechner Christmas on a separate day, so I think it's time to move the Snyder Christmas to another day as well. Let me know what you think, Killians.

Another idea would be to spend the afternoon of Christmas Eve with the Askeys since we go down there for dinner anyway, and then spend Christmas Day with the Killians, but I'm not sure if that's fair to everyone...altho it does eliminate an extra trip to York two days in a row, so Mother Nature would probably thank us.

On the up side, Kelly and Reed's wedding on Saturday was amazing and perfect, and I loved seeing the PREP girls so much; I played bells with my mom (the bell choir was SO in the zone, "Masters in this Hall" was amazing!) and sang in the 11:00 PM candlelight service at Trinity, with Hannah and Paul in attendance (had lots of fun singing all the carols, except for Silent Night being ruined by a rogue choir member); I got to see Crystal, Jo, and Henry yesterday; spent some time with Hannah last night; and I got some really nice things: a beautiful, long, black, wool pea-coat and a really nice electric wet/dry epilator/razor from Paul (he picked the coat out all by himself!); a coffee maker, cute bracelet, jewelry box, and some other cool stuff from the Askeys; a chia pet from my mom (laugh if you want, but I'm excited, I've never had one!); a pair of espresso cups with saucers from Lebanon; and enough Victoria's Secret gift cards to cover the cost of a really nice gel push-up bra that I've always wanted to have but never wanted to spring for (they're expensive!!).

So that was my first Christmas as an Askey...it had its ups and downs, but we'll do better next year. I'll be able to have people over to our place more, because we'll be finished with painting and updating the kitchen and furnishing and unpacking and organizing, and I want to get a real tree and decorate the whole place and the porch too!

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. Congrats to Kelly and Reed, I hope they're enjoying Christmas in Barbados!!