Christmas Recap

Many other bloggers are posting what gifts they got for Christmas, a few are also posting gifts they gave. I guess I'll give it a go too.

My sister-in-law is a big Mt. Dew drinker - she lives on the stuff 24/7. Awhile back I had myself a 20oz Mt. Dew and the cap had Buy One Get One free inside it. I saved that cap for her and included it with the rest of her gift. She loved it.

My father-in-law bought a DVD-camcorder late last year and gave me all the DVDs he’s taken so far (each less than 20 minutes). I ripped them all and made them into a single DVD for his viewing, and made a copy for my parents too since they don’t get to spend as much time with my kids as my in-laws do. Those DVDs were part of their gifts.

Earlier this year, my co-workers all submitted recipes to me and I compiled them into a small recipe book for everyone I work with. I gave copies of this recipe book to some of my family members as part of their gifts.

I filled out a survey for a work-related magazine earlier this year and recieved a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate for doing so. I used the gift certificate to order three books for Rubi, ostensibly for Christmas gifts, but we agreed not to exchange gifts this year (we bought ourselves a digital camera on Black Friday - that was our Christmas Gift to each other) - so she got the books a couple of weeks before Christmas.

At church, my kids get “Bible bucks” for memorizing their Bible verse, bringing their Bible with them to church, being there, brining a friend, and so forth. The kids get to spend these bucks on things like pencils, small Christian themed toys, larger items like Bibles and Bible covers, etc. My oldest daughter saved hers up and bought my wife one of those little blue and white plastic snow globes with a snow man scene inside for her Christmas gift.

At our small group a few weeks ago, I noticed that our hosts had several ornaments on their tree their kids had made out of CDs (like AOL CDs) and thought they were really neat. My oldest daughter made me one in her art class and gave it to me for Christmas.

And… my in-laws gave Rubi and I a new dishwasher, among other great gifts, and my father-in-law helped me install it yesterday! Our old dishwasher quit working probably over a year ago and I've been hand-washing them since. This will definitely free up some time during my day!

That's not the complete giving and receiving list - just some of the highlights.

I had to work 3rd shift Christmas Eve and Christmas, I went in a couple of hours on Christmas Eve so the supervisor working (my regular) 2nd shift could get to her grandkids house and help wrap gifts. On Christmas morning, my relief came in 30 minutes early so I could get home and spend Christmas morning with my kids. Aparently, my kids got up around 3:30am and pretty much stayed up waiting for me for three and half hours!
After about 20 minutes with my family on Christmas morning that included me reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 and the family singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, I went to bed. Rubi and the the kids got cleanup and went to her parents house for the day. A few hours later, I got up around noon and joined them about an hour after. We spent most of the day snacking on delicious food Rubi's mom had prepared, until Rubi's sister and that sister's boyfriend arrived. Then we did the presents. Around 5 we had dinner, then sat around watching the kids play with all their new toys.
We got home around 8:30 that night, and I went in to work around 11 and then had to double back and work 2nd shift on the 26th.

Yesterday, my first day off, we got our dishwasher installed and ran a few errands. Today, my second day off, we'll probably run a few errands but that will be it and I won't be doing much of anything constructive (as witnessed by this post).

Back to work tomorrow, for a week that includes more crazy scheduling over New Years. It can't be helped though - I work in a 24/7 environment where someone has to be there, otherwise people could die.

Happy Holidays (post-Christmas, pre-New Years)!

Christmas Recap