Christmas is over. All those weeks of preparation - baking and shopping marathons all come to an end. In a way, I'm sad it's over, but a part of me is kind of relieved that normalcy can return once again.
Christmas Eve was fun. From my earlier post, we headed downtown to see all the decorations and the Christkindlmarket at the Daley Center. Then we came home and I made 2 dishes - a corn casserole and mashed potatoes - to bring over to my mom's. Mark took Ricky to pick up the eggrolls at the local Filipino store and then we all went over to my mom's to celebrate Christmas Eve. Besides us, we celebrated with my sister, brother in law & his parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was a nice small, intimate group.
The cookies and appetizers were so good that I didn't think I would have enough room for the main course. Then when it came time to open presents, Ricky took center stage and we all watched him open his presents. Mark and I managed to take Ricky to 10pm mass - as my parish does not have midnight mass anymore. As you can imagine, Ricky was nutts as it was waaaaayyyyy past his bedtime. He sang many carols at the top of his lungs in a quiet church - complete with the Chipmunk Christmas song. I was trying very hard to stop laughing but it was hard. I don't even think I was able to pray for more than 30 seconds, but oh well.
We got up early Christmas Day and opened presents from Santa. Ricky was so excited. Then we got ready and went over to Mark's sister's house for the entire day. Needless to say, there was lots of eating and not as much sleeping going on so we are all exhausted but happy that we had such a great holiday. Nothing better than having your family all around you - and thankful that nobody is sick or has passed away. All in all, lots to be thankful for.
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