Where do I begin?
Saturday
and I drove up to
and
’s to spend the day with
and
. All went well - not terribly eventful.
stayed awake most of the time we were there, which was nice, and we ended up staying until 10 pm! It surprised us that it was so late.
gave me this really cool knitting needle set:

I also got the bread pan I wanted - I know, not terribly interesting, but I really wanted a glass bread pan.
gave me some bread mix and a cookbook that looks quite yummy (the recipes, not the book itself). Oh, and
gave me some more point protectors, to avoid future piercing of my skin.
Sunday we went to
’s grandma’s house. They play this dice game for $5 gifts that would totally not work in my family - there just aren’t enough people for that to be fun. I managed to come away with a potted bulb and bungee cords, and
got a case of Junior Mints.
We failed to realize exactly how early Cub would be closing, so we found inspiration for Monday’s meal at Walgreens, and it wasn’t nearly as ghetto as it sounds. After finding out Cub was closed, we made our way over to a nice church with a very lovely Christmas Eve service, complete with a candlelit singing of Silent Night.
Monday morning, we woke up and opened our stockings and gifts.
completely shocked me by getting me the food processor that I wanted (but assumed I’d never get because no one wanted to pay that much for one and he’s opposed to kitchen appliances - apparently, though, I’m allowed to own as many as I want). He also gave me a very pretty pendant and a gift card to the MOA so I can finally own clothes that fit.

His dad and brother came over, and after some drama,
and his dad and I sat down to a lovely spaghetti dinner with some nice foccacia made from a mix
had given me. Again, I was shocked as his dad gave me a printer for my computer! Surprise and amazement abounded yesterday, and that usually doesn’t happen for me with gift exchanges.
called, too, and we talked briefly - his gifts are supposedly arriving today, so there’s still a little bit of Christmas left at my house.

went shopping today (he has off work, lucky dog) for the digital camera he was going to get with his Christmas moolah. And then he came all the way into St Paul to have lunch with me. How sweet!
It’s boring as heck in here. Phones aren’t ringing, which is technically a good thing. I’m taking tomorrow off because my aunt is in town.
and she are driving down to my place for lunch and then we’re going to the Conservatory. So, tonight, after shopping with
and hemming her pants, there will be much cleaning of my house. Alas, it was kind of a mess before I left for the holiday weekend, and bringing bundles of gifts home did not help that situation. My aunt hasn’t seen this house yet, though - last time she was in town with their other sister I was living with
, so it’s been awhile. Of course, she’s not really coming in to town to visit me (
actually made it into several person’s Christmas letters), but that’s OK. It doesn’t always have to be about me (in my family, it often isn’t), and my time will come.
I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to pass the rest of the time today, other than writing up some shopping lists. Maybe I’ll dig into one of my databases, or write up instructions “in the event I am hit by a bus.”
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