Exchange of material objects aside, how was your Christmas?

I’ve reached the point in my life where there’s very little present-exchanging going on, so I don’t want to get involved in those inventories – but how was your Christmas as an experience?

The annual Christmas Eve party for old friends got moved to my sister’s this year, and that was a lot of fun – these are people I’ve known 20 or 30 years (or more – I’ve known my BIL since 1967, and my sister, obviously, longer than that). The food was excellent, the company even better. All but one couple stayed over, and we woke up and gathered in their huge kitchen for homemade scones and more talk and laughter before everyone scattered for their next stop around 11.

I wasn’t due anywhere till 1, so I hung out and read for a while; their year-old cat, who’s very friendly, helped me take a nap.

Went over to a friend’s mid-afternoon. I helped him finish cleaning up and getting ready, then we sat down and had a lovely heart-to-heart for about an hour and a half before the other dinner guest got there. Dinner was outstanding (lobster bisque that I was eating very, very slowly because it was so. damn. good., steak, asparagus), and we sat around and ate and talked and laughed and listened to a bunch of Christmas CDS. Very, very pleasant.

Came home, fed the cat, checked my email (a “hi” note from an old boyfriend I rarely hear from, that was nice), and went to bed.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give it a 10.

Even without presents.

How was your holiday? (or, for those of other persuasions, how was your day off?)

There weren’t any arguments at my inlaws’ house. :eek: Even my husband was really not looking forward to going there, but for once it was absolutely smooth. We kept exclaiming afterwards how that was actually pleasant.

I had a wonderful time. Christmas Eve I served as a chalist at our early service, at 5:30 PM. From there I went to my parent’s house. My folks, my sisters, my brothers-in law, and my nephews opened presents together. You should have seen how excited the younger boy(almost four) was, when he got his heart’s desire, a Hungry HUngry Hippos game.

I went home that night and walked barefoot into a step ladder, and jumped up and down saying many, many four letter words. It may be cracked, it’s turning all shades of purple now, .

Next day, in the morning, I began baking prep for the family afternoon dinner. At 10:00 AM I attended church again, and once again was yelled at by the Fred Phelps clan, but I ignored them. Finished the baking after church, and went to dinner at my parents. We had a big crowd, at least twenty four people, most of which were family, but a few other guests. One young man was a seminarian attached to my parent’s church. He will have to leave them soon for medical treatment, he’s seriously ill with lupus, amongst some other things that have cropped up. Poor guy. but he seemed in good spirits. My dearest grandmother was there, the one who just turned 100. She managed quite a meal, too, and for once didn’t worry about the calories! :smiley:

Today I went to church and helped with the children’s Christmas program. They were all so sweet. I love the little kids in their sheep/cow/donkey costumes.

Spent the rest of the day laying around, reading and crocheting, and wishing I didn’t have to go back to work tomorrow.

All in all it was a great holiday!!!

It was the best Christmas I’ve had since I left my parents’ home in 2001.
That first Christmas, I was severely depressed and wanted nothing but to be left alone forever in a room by myself in the dark alone by myself go away. I got to go home to my family, but I was still severely depressed and don’t remember much.
Last Christmas, I was 2,000 miles away from my family, all alone on Christmas Day, and when I went to Gunslinger’s family’s party I was surrounded by strangers who weren’t sure what to make of me.

This Christmas, I’ve been down here for a year and a half, and we’ve been living together since July. I’ve been taken in as a real member of the family. We took a two-hour drive back east to see them over the weekend. Friday morning we got up early, did the presents-exchange thing, and took a leisurely ride through East Texas. Then we went to my favorite pet store and I got to play with a wide variety of well-raised hand-fed birds from my favorites, the Quaker parakeets, to a trio of Eclectus and a tiny little Timneh African Grey who was the cuddliest example of that species I have ever been acquainted with. I love visiting that pet store, and I can’t wait until we can afford to add to our family - I intend to adopt a Quaker from them some time in 2005.

We had lunch at the best hamburger joint EVER - Jucy’s - and were thrilled to see that they had expanded westward. No longer are they limited to Longview, Marshall and Tyler - they now have a location on Town East Blvd in Mesquite! We can stop by for a fabulous lunch next time we go to the Gihugic Mall.

We spent the afternoon with his nuclear family and the evening with his extended family, all of whom were very friendly. We had some drinks and a lot of nachos and quite a few laughs. I sometimes felt rather out of the loop because they were talking about people and places with which I was unfamiliar, but no one was offended when I borrowed the host’s copy of the Darwin Awards book and sat in the living room browsing it while they spoke.

Afterwards we went to KFC - the party was all Mexican food, which my stomach cannot tolerate; earlier at Jucy’s I had tried putting a tiny, tiny little drop of Tabasco sauce on a plate, then dipping the very, very tip of a tiny, tiny french fry into it just for half a second… and it was still too hot for me… what can I say, I’m a Yankee - my mom only ever used salt, black pepper, and herbs from her garden. Spicy hurts me. Luckily a KFC was open, and the guy in the drive-through enunciated PO-TAY-TO WEDGES in a most amusing manner and just made my evening. Then we went to our hotel room, thoughtfully provided by the Mom-In-Law, and watched cartoons all night.

Christmas morning we returned to his parents’ house for a gift exchange, breakfast, and General Hanging Out. Gun’s little brother was 12 when I first met him, and I found him very annoying, but now he’s turning 16 and the more I get to know him the more I like him. He and I discussed fishing, wildlife, and the strange romantic ideas moose sometimes get into their heads regarding people’s cars.

We wrapped up our Christmas with lunch at his Grandmother’s house with his aunt, uncle and cousins, another gift exchange, and a ride around the block in his grandmother’s 1984 Ford LTD Crown Victoria. She’d just bought a new car, and was having transmission problems with the Vic, which we determined were due to the fact that it was two quarts low on tranny fluid. It was decided that the little brother would have Gun’s pickup truck, and the Vic would be ours; he’s going down to trade vehicles tomorrow.

The only sore point of the weekend is that they spent a long, long time going back and forth about what paperwork would be needed to get the Vic put in Gun’s name and how to get the title and whatnot. Their ideas of what was necessary were incorrect and they kept asking each other and giving each other the wrong answers over and over. I just went through that very situation - getting a title transferred to my name in Texas and registering it and everything - and I told them what was necessary, but they ignored me as if I’d never spoken and just kept on going back and forth with the wrong information. All day. Both days. It about drove me crazy and I got snippy with Gun about it on the way home, because I felt that he could have done a better job getting them to realize that I did in fact know what I was talking about because I had done the very exact same thing quite recently. But other than that annoyance it was one of the best Christmases I’ve had in years, as an experience rather than an exchange of presents (which consisted of two or three awesome things, a couple of nice things, and a colossal heap of lackluster items).

Except for the four hours that my mom and brother were here yesterday, it’s been much like any other 3-day weekend. I don’t really like any of my immediate family members (I love them, just don’t like spending time with them), so I tend to see the holidays as much more of a chore to be gotten through than something to be happy about. Not a complaint, just a fact. :slight_smile: I actually like the buildup to the holidays better than the holidays themselves: I like decorating, putting up my tree, exchanging gifts with friends and going downtown to see the trees, having a small holiday party with my team at work, etc.

My friends tend to be out of town at this time of year, so it’s actually been a little quieter than an average weekend, but honestly I’d rather be by myself than dealing with traffic, airports, or extended family. I’ve gotten a lot of reading done, my laundry is finished, and I’m 2/3 of the way through the Star Wars trilogy that my brother gave me (and I plan to watch Jedi tomorrow night). :slight_smile:

Oh, and I’ve spent a lot of time here on the SDMB, as evidenced by my Very First Parody Thread Ever, and my Very First Reply to a GD Thread Ever (and it might be my last one, too – that place is scary!). :smiley:

All in all it was a nice Christmas. I went to brunch on Christmas Eve morning at my church. Couple bloody mary’s and a slice of rum with some cake in it, made it even more pleasant. :smiley: I served as Lector for our Christmas Eve night service. There’s also a service Christmas Eve afternoon for the little ones and those who prefer not to go to a service at 11:00 PM. I got up early Christmas morning and drove two and a half hours to mom’s to be with family on Christmas. We had a huge meal followed by a gift exchange, followed by sitting around drinking coffee and eating cake, fried pies, cookies and candies all homemade by my mom. I went down to my sister’s house Christmas night and sat around a couple hours with her and the BIL drinking beer and carrying on. Then back to mom’s house to sleep. I’m glad they live next to each other is all I’m saying about the walk back. :stuck_out_tongue: Got up yesterday morning and had breakfast with mom. Got packed up, said bye to sis and headed back home. A Certain Burly Gentleman (aka ACBG, keep up, I won’t repeat this) got back from his family late yesterday afternoon and we had a little after Christmas soak in the hot tub. :wink:

Loved seeing my family. Loved spending time with them. Loved the hot tub soak. It was a good Christmas.

Good but I’m tired…

Christmas Eve: We went to our church’s vesper service then drove to my mom’s. No histrionics from mother or sister so all was good. Stayed until after 10.

Christmas Day: Exchanged presents with DeHusband then drove back to Mom’s for Christmas Dinner. She cooked a Turducken roll, which was just nasty, and cornbread dressing and veggies. So we all ate veggies and cornbread dressing.

Really sleepy.

We had a good Christmas. I woke up before my husband, and fixed coffee. I went out and took pictures of the snow! He got up, and we drank coffee and opened presents. Then he got on E-bay for awhile! I watched Ben-Hur, and fixed breakfast. After that, I got serious about cooking.

I am the hostess for the family. My 80 year old dad came, and Tom’s niece and her husband and their two kids came.

I fixed a good dinner! Ham and scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, and a tomato/cucumber salad. Lots of cookies and brownies, and my niece-in-law (who is only 3 years younger than me!) brought a pumpkin cheesecake.

After everyone left, I got into my jammies and started reading my new book, The Road to the Dark Tower. I did the dishes the next day!

Our Christmas was a bit mixed. As for material things, I could pretty much forego Christmas. But my kids (usually) love it, and that makes it fun. Plus it’s generally a time to renew acquaintance with friends I’ve not seen. We got to a couple of parties before Christmas where we got to see old friends (one’s I’ve known since almost forever) and newer friends (Hi Lucretia, Bluesman, the Bluesclan and RTFirefly! You’re all great!). We had some kicking food at these parties. Christmas day itself was where the mixed reviews come in. We went to my parents’ place for dinner. I’d forgotten that my sister takes her daughter to Grandma and Grandpa’s place and they smother her with presents*. I thought since it was late in the afternoon they’d be past the part, but they saved it until we got there. We hadn’t brought anything for our kids to open, so they just got to watch their cousin open a lot of presents, which isn’t much fun. My son didn’t really care, but my daughter’s feelings were severely hurt. She said it made her feel invisible. Eventually I took her over to a friend’s house. They’re Jewish so there wasn’t much there in the way of presents. I think she got the message and after a while asked to go back over to Grandma and Grandpa’s and was fine the rest of the day.

The other part that’s tough is just my father. I’m more and more beginning to think he’s a bit crazy. He has really poor impulse control. And sometimes the stupidest sh&t ever comes out of his mouth. He wanted my daughter to put her hair up. He asks her to put it up a couple of times, then says, “C’mon, I want you to look sexy.” WTF!?! I called him on it immediately and even as obstinate as he can be he did apologise and say it was inappropriate. I’m mean she’s nine for Og’s sake! And it is inevitable that he’ll play with or tease the kids until they cry, then he’s apologising for it after. It never occurs to him to moderate how he’s dealing with small children. He just gets caught in the moment. When you’re a 200 lb man wrestling on the ground with 4-9 year old children then if you’re not damned careful someone’s going to get hurt. I like the concept that their grandfather wants to play and interact with them, but he’s obviously never going to learn to control himself. And he doesn’t have a sense that some of the kids are more sensitive than others and so you need to go a little lighter on any teasing. He was like that when I was a kid, too, and it took me years to get over wanting to bash his teeth in for it. Then I get torn between a sense of wanting to have a family to visit with at Christmas and wanting to just stay away and keep it low key.

Well, I tell ya, I’m probably never doing it again. On Monday, we closed on our house and started the move-in process. Relatives started arriving on Thursday, culminating in a fifteen-person, four-child present-ripping orgy on Friday night. And since our back yard hasn’t been sodded yet and we had snow on Wednesday, we got loads of mud, which means that the dog basically gets a bath after every time she goes outside to “ride the Harley” (as my mom calls it), or else we have mud all over our week-old carpet.

Overall, exhausting. On the plus side, now it’s just the two of us, the house is empty and quiet and new and pretty, and it’s nice. Of course, now her dad’s side of the family is coming for New Year’s Eve…

The Christmas Eve party at Mr. Lissar’s godparents was lovely. We drank and ate and talked for many hours. Christmas was rather stressful. Sort of like Shibb’s- my Mum, who I’m usually okay with (terrible grammar) was really worked up, bossy, and weird all day.

My Mum is manic depressive, bipolar, whatever, and it worries me when she gets a certain type of irrational and hyper. She’s usually okay, and hasn’t had to be hospitalized for treatment in more than ten years, but she was acting… worrying… on Christmas.

Also, Mr. Lissar’s temp position just ended, so he’s looking for work again. We’re ot really sure where January’s rent is going to come from.

Yeah, it was pretty stressful, really.

On the up side, one of our closest friends is flying in on Wednesday, and it’s our second wedding anniversary tomorrow. Later in January our very best friends are coming to visit, too.

{{{{{Lissla}}}}}

My mother was bipolar also – and though she died in '87, I definitely think of her (and some of her more dramatic actings-out, like the Christmas '69 suicide attempt) at this time of year. It’s tough. You might want to talk to her about getting her meds checked; since she knows she needs them, she may react okay to “I’m a little concerned about how you’re doing…” (Or, of course, she may not. Sigh.)

Hang in there –

This one was pretty good.

I don’t “do” Christmas. I’m agnostic, so there’s nothing religious in it for me. Most years, it’s just a monumental pain in the ass, especially the part of having Christmas music playing from Labor Day onward. I just give gift certificates and let it go at that.

But this year, The Teenaged Terror turned 18 on 12/1. She’s only going to be 18 once in her life and she has turned out to be a good kid overall (getting to watch an older brother crash and burn on drugs was a good teaching example of how NOT to live your life). She graduates high school and goes off to college in 2005 and I wanted to give her something special. I wound up getting her a necklace with her first initial inset with her birthstone.

It made her cry and she hugged me. It doesn’t get any better than that.

On top of that, SWMBO and I took her to see Jesus Christ Superstar on stage. I’d only seen the movie, which was wierd. I love the music, though, and I was blown away by the stage production. Really, really good and the guy who sings Judas was just dynamite.

It was nice. My younger brother got married this year, so they spent Christmas day with her family. My older sister & her family - 3 kids - came to visit my parents a week before Christmas, and then flew out to Belgium to spend time with her husbands’ family. So - for the first time ever it was just the three of us for Christmas - me, Mom, and Dad.

Flew in Thursday - was able to catch an earlier flight that had been delayed, so that was a good thing. Went out to lunch with Mom - afternoon tea at Sally Lunn’s - I had a heavenly eggnog scone. Then I went and bought a carrying case for my new laptop - yay! That night we went to see a play at the Shakespeare theater at Drew University - Ilyria, which is a musical adaptation of Twelfth night (review here ). Very fun - and brother and SIL joined us for that.

Friday was lunch out at Redwoods - had a nice juicy burger with a lovely spicy sauce. Went over to a store that’s a bakery for dogs - didn’t get anything, but was fun to look. Baked peanut butter Hershey kiss cookies - yum. Watched White Christmas - Vera Ellen is a Barbie doll, but I still want to be her - I love the dancing!

Saturday morning we were up at 9:30 to open gifts - got a very nice watch & some great clothes. Mom cleaned up - Dad got her an iPod, a DVD player, and a Le Creuset Dutch oven! Lunch was Prime Rib - heavenly. Mom & Dad went out to the movies - I hung around the house & read.

Sunday was off to the mall - some exchanges, and had links taken out of my new watch (I have really small wrists). I flew home that night - delayed by an hour and a half, but I kind of expect it now.

My parents are driving down to visit on Thursday - so the fun still isn’t over!
Susan

I spent the 24th, 25th, and 26th in the freezing cold with an M-16 on my shoulder and an M-9 on my hip from 1500 to 2300 each day. I missed Christmas with my mother’s family, my father’s family, and since Robin and Aaron are flying down to San Antonio and I have to work, I’m missing that, too.

Christmas was just another day for me this year. Nothing special.

A few low points, thanks to my stepdad.
My mom had cooked a pot roast in the crockpot all day on Christmas Eve. It was edible, but chewy. My stepdad told her it sucked, and added that it was the perfect end to a shitty day.
My kids got a game table from Santa. I was teaching my son to use a pool cue and he was finding it difficult. Stepdad comes along and says, “What are you…fucking retarded?” Among other things.
This is just the way my stepdad is. He’s abusive (Although not physically. Anymore. As far as I know.) The good news is, I don’t think he’ll still be in the family by next Christmas.
I also had a rousing argument with my grandma about God and homosexuality, but it wasn’t really a low point because I think Grandma enjoys a good shouting match once in awhile. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t bait me. :smiley:
It actually was quite a good Christmas. Once my stepdad had fucked off to watch TV, the rest of us had a ball playing foozeball and pool on that game table. We also spent hours playing Mad Libs and laughing so hard we nearly wet ourselves. There were so many gifts we didn’t even have time to play with everything yet, and a lot of needful things were given and received. Not a perfect year, but close.

Well, this is the first Christmas since my wife left me.

Every year we would go to her parents house and spend Christmas with her family. My family does not do a big deal for Christmas any more and they live several states away and her parents were much closer in every sense.

Christmas up there was beautiful and fun and would probably make Norman Rockwell go into sugar shock. But it was actually quite wonderful.

My soon to be former in-laws mailed me a gift and my soon to be former siblings in law all sent me cards.

But I spent the day alone this year. Well, me and a cat. And I went over to my wife’s new apartment to feed my soon to be ex-cat as he was all alone on Christmas himself.

My family from several states away called and I spoke on the phone to them for about half and hour.

I did make myself a nice steak dinner and had a beer while I watched RotK EE.
It wasn’t as bad as I feared it was going to be but it was tough.

Wonderful, wonderful (if hectic)

To my parents’ house on the 23rd and Xmas with them and my brothers.

To my SIL’s house on the afternoon of the 24th for dinner and Xmas with them.

Home for some quiet time until midnight service (I, too, was lector). Lilly, Queen of the Universe, did really well (she’s 5 years old). She hung in as long as she could but fell asleep right after communion. Home, presents under the tree, and in bed by about 1:00.

Up at 6:30 Xmas morning. Lilly’s eyes as big as dinner plates (“OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH!”). Seeing her so excited was worth any price you’d ask me to pay. Perfection in every sense of the word.

A good Xmas exchange and then to my other SIL’s house for gnoshing. Home again and to bed for a much needed nap at 3:00. Gave my incredibly sexy wife a special Xmas present that I had held back. Swoon. Ecstasy. Collapse. Sleep.

Up for an early evening dinner (my crab cakes, asperagus, twice baked potatos and a terrific Pinot Grigio). Espresso and amaretto with my mother’s wonderfully rich fudge for dessert.

To the couch for a viewing of Fellini’s “Amacord” (Xmas present to my wife).

In bed by 9:30. The soundest sleep I’ve had in a bit (and that’s saying something - I sleep like the dead).

Yesterday, early service for Morning Prayer, home to play with the kids, to the gym for a hard workout and looooonnnnngggggg steam, light lunch, “Auntie Mame” in the afternoon, nap, dinner, read the paper, and back to bed.

Like I said, much to do, but relaxing.

Well, it started with my son saying “Mommy, my bed feels like it’s moving.” We’re in California, so that does happen sometimes. This time, however, it was only his bed, so I hunted up the thermometer and, sure enough, he had a fever. This put an end to our plans to drive up to the grandparents’, which was too bad, because my brother was visiting on leave from Fort Hood, and he doesn’t get to see the kids very often.

We had a pleasant enough day. The kid wasn’t feeling too bad, except for an occasional tummy ache. They made monsters with the modeling clay from their stockings. We had to have tuna casserole for dinner, which my daughter pronounced “the best ever!” Good for her, although, I had been rather looking forward to the roast beef and Yorkshire pudding my mom had planned. Oh well.

We’ll probably see the grandparents at New Year’s instead and do the rest of our Christmas then.

My son’s tummy is feeling much better today–although I’m not too sure about mine.

Lovely and relaxing. Christmas Eve we took the kids for a walk to the playground to work off some energy, and then the in-laws came for the afternoon. For once, they hadn’t spent needed money on useless, tacky gifts for us, or brought caloric food we didn’t want or need! They had actually listened to my request for mistletoe for a gift (it grows all over their neighborhood). In the interests of my sanity, we got take-n-bake pizza. We had a nice time, they admired my new niece, and they left after the kids were in bed and the gifts under the tree.

Christmas morning, the kids were happy, and my family came over, bearing scones for breakfast. We opened presents and hung around for awhile. Then we headed over to my family’s house and did the same. We went home for naptime and relaxed, then back over for a nice dinner. That evening I started losing my voice, a sure sign of a serious cold coming on.

But the cold meant that I couldn’t go to church, and while I was sorry to miss church, I did get something I never, ever get: 3 hours alone at home. I read a book of Christmas poems and another story that I’d gotten from the library and had been too busy to read. I worked on a jigsaw, something else I never do. It was really nice.

All in all, it was very relaxed and happy.