Christmas Part 1 – 2 - 3

Wow, am I behind on this old section of the internets.  Well, time to play some quick catch-up I presume.

So, this year, we had 3 Christmases.

1. Christmas Eve at my sister's house
2. "Our Family Christmas" with just the 3 of us on the 28th
3. New Year's Eve at my sister-in-law's new house in the Seattle area.

Christmas #1

My family does "Christmas" on Christmas Eve.  Always have.  That's when the big group party is.  Then Christmas Day is a much lower key thing.  We drove down there on the morning of Christmas Eve and had a good visit with my mom & dad.  We then went over to my sister's house (about 10 miles away) for the party.

We ate, talked, Cora met my brother's wife & son who she had never met before, and exchanged some gifts.  We did the "draw one person's name" thing this year, and it went well.  There was a $25 limit, and I think everybody was happy with it, for the most part.

Then it was game time!

My sister split us into teams of two, and we plaid a number of "Minute to Win It" type games.  They are harder than they look on TV, and we had to ditch some, and alter others, but you can't help but laugh at someone trying to use their facial muscles to move an Oreo from their forehead into their mouth.

Christmas day was low key, but that evening, we went to a local park that puts up a decent Christmas light display for a town on 20,000.

	The park features a cute little iron and wood bridge over the central pond.  I've fished for bluegills off that bridge in my youth.
	Another view of the bridge, reflected in the pond.
	And here is my lovely wife on said bridge.
	OMG!  It's the Claus Ness Monster!
	And then I started playing with the exposure setting on my camera, taking some long exposure photos of a string of lights…
	And a tree full of red lights to make it look on fire…
	Some reindeer moving at warp speed!
	And speaking of warps, I love this little time warp effect running down the tunnel.

Christmas #2

Was a quiet little affair.  In the morning, we opened our stockings.  Then, after a break where I went to work all day (*sigh*), we opened our presents.  I was too busy living in the moment to take any pictures, and am too lazy to steal any of my wife's pictures.  So if you want to read her account, go HERE.

Christmas #3

We flew out to the Pacific Northwest on the 30th.  I took a day off so that we could catch an earlier flight, and that worked out extremely well, as we got out there in time to actually visit with the family when the plane landed, and not just going to sleep.

On New Year's Eve, we went to the house that my SIL's family & my MIL will all be buying together and moving into shortly for a super-combo celebration of Christmas/New Year's/Birthdays.

A good time was had by all.  Because there was cake.

We also visited Callista, her husband, and their dog, Moose, who as you can see, is the "Tennis Ball Terror Terrier of Tulalip".  But otherwise, a cool dog.

Later in the visit, we all went to downtown Seattle to Pike Place Market, where we saw some über creepy ventriloquist dummies.  The guy in the store was twisting and moving their heads so they looked like they were tracking you!  (For those of you with clown phobias, try getting Bozo there out of your noggin tonight as you go to sleep.)
  
And then right up the street, there was another place that puts dolls on display.  They actually had some pretty good signs, I must admit.

But, before we knew it, it was time to head back home.  And I think we got out of there just in time!  The storms came in, the trees came down, and the power went out.  It looks like things are slowly returning to "normal", but the new house that they are buying has been without power for over a week.

I think someone better get a visit for the Auxiliary Generator Faerie before next winter!