And so that was Christmas...
Christmas has come and gone and with it some of its excesses- the good and bad; we bought too many presents, prepared too much food, consumed too much food yesterday (bad) and also spent way more time with family than we normally do (good!). I guess its excesses are pretty normal. The bad part of it is that the excess spending will continue (after Christmas sales that I cannot resist) and our fridge is stocked to the gills with leftover food that I love (pecan chocolate chip pie, pumpkin pie, sugar creme pie, cheesecake) and have a very hard time resisting.
Christmas Eve morning was spent cleaning to prepare for hosting the next day. I made a pie that day and did prep work for the Christmas dishes. In the early afternoon, we went to our church service. It was less "service" and more "experience" as Christ's birth was depicted with drama (complete with Satan in word spars with Gabriel), non traditional Christmas music and dance performances. It was enjoyable, entertaining and uplifting. We went straight from the church to West Chester to Mark and Cindy's house for dinner. They had food catered and all was delicious. The kids opened their presents from Mark and Cindy, grandma, and Denise and Don. They got lots of good stuff, most of which was on their Christmas lists.
We had a busy Christmas ahead of us and on the way home from Mark and Cindy's, we broke the news to the children that they would not be able to sleep in nearly as long as they would want to on Christmas Day. We always open presents in the morning with just us before others arrive. But, there's much work to be done in preparation for others to arrive in early afternoon so we have to get going with our Christmas at a decent hour. The teens protested much but we made them go to bed at a decent hour (11:00 ish) so that us waking them up around 9:00 wouldn't be too onerous (for them and for us).
Christmas Day, we assembled bright and earlier than the teens would have liked. After Donnie read from the Bible, we opened presents. The kids seemed to like all of their things- various electronic, clothing, hobby related, beauty products, room decor and a few practical items thrown in as well. And of course candy in their stockings.
As soon as we finished opening presents, it was time to get to work. Fortunately, our guests were all bringing items so that not all of the meal items were our responsibility. In fact, I don't feel like I prepared too terribly much- a turkey breast, a whole turkey (it was small), sweet potato casserole, pie, a warm cheese dip, and cookies but there were many small details to attend to so Donnie and I stayed busy until our guests arrived. Said guests brought pies, potatoes, shrimp, cheesecake, meatballs, veggies, candy, fruit so we lacked for no food. We had a nice meal together and then opened some more presents.
By late afternoon, early evening, with bellies full and thankful hearts for the season, the reason for the season, and the day itself, our hosting duties ended and we embraced lassitude. The kitchen wasn't 100% cleaned up when our guests left but it wasn't atrocious and I called that good enough for the day. In the evening, the girls and Donnie watched a movie in the basement, Jacob hung out with Malcolm and I finished reading A Tale of Two Cities.
Christmas Eve before church
Donnie and the girls
Three Two Rineer Kids and One Rineer Adult
At Mark and Cindy's after church
Alyssa first opened a bag of chips in honor of her junk food predilection.
"It's one of the only times of the year that I know I have to consent to pictures being taken of me but that doesn't mean I have to like it," is what I think Abby's look is conveying (hopefully she wasn't thinking anything worse than that but I could be wrong).
Jacob's half smile: "I'm so glad I'm not on the couch."
Back in the 'Boro
I took this picture at the top of the stairs on the landing. The mantle looks vaguely like it's on fire. Thankfully, it wasn't 😁.
Christmas morn...
Alyssa received a lot of small things on Christmas morning. Part of her Christmas gift is a bedroom make over. She's already received a new bed and bedding. We haven't purchased yet, but plan to purchase, a small sectional couch for her room. That is/ will be part of her Christmas.
Abby received a telescope as her biggest gift and then received a lot of smaller things, too. She's also getting a room make over as part of her Christmas but she isn't getting a new bed or a couch for her room (the latter would not fit in her room). She's getting new bedding, curtains and we'll paint/ change some of her décor in January.
Jacob's biggest gift is one he hasn't received yet. I wrote him a note, put it in a box, and wrapped it. The note said that we'd get him a laptop for college. But, I wanted to wait until closer to the time that he leaves for college to buy him one. Some schools recommend certain laptops and since we don't know where he's going, it seemed best to wait. I figured we'd be buying him one anyway- might as well get Christmas credit for it :). The kids' school district uses Google Classroom and as such recommends that students have Chromebooks which the kids have. But, I figured he'd need something more robust for college. Anyway, besides his IOU, he received mostly clothes.
You know without a shadow of a doubt you've fully embraced middle age hood when tablescapes are a greater source of interest to you then you ever thought they'd be and you semi regularly troll Craigslist for additional pieces since your pattern is discontinued... We had six place settings in the kitchen...
and eight in the dining room.
I took no more pictures of the day. I wish I would have taken some of our food spread. But I didn't have my camera near me and didn't think of it.
Christmas Eve morning was spent cleaning to prepare for hosting the next day. I made a pie that day and did prep work for the Christmas dishes. In the early afternoon, we went to our church service. It was less "service" and more "experience" as Christ's birth was depicted with drama (complete with Satan in word spars with Gabriel), non traditional Christmas music and dance performances. It was enjoyable, entertaining and uplifting. We went straight from the church to West Chester to Mark and Cindy's house for dinner. They had food catered and all was delicious. The kids opened their presents from Mark and Cindy, grandma, and Denise and Don. They got lots of good stuff, most of which was on their Christmas lists.
We had a busy Christmas ahead of us and on the way home from Mark and Cindy's, we broke the news to the children that they would not be able to sleep in nearly as long as they would want to on Christmas Day. We always open presents in the morning with just us before others arrive. But, there's much work to be done in preparation for others to arrive in early afternoon so we have to get going with our Christmas at a decent hour. The teens protested much but we made them go to bed at a decent hour (11:00 ish) so that us waking them up around 9:00 wouldn't be too onerous (for them and for us).
Christmas Day, we assembled bright and earlier than the teens would have liked. After Donnie read from the Bible, we opened presents. The kids seemed to like all of their things- various electronic, clothing, hobby related, beauty products, room decor and a few practical items thrown in as well. And of course candy in their stockings.
As soon as we finished opening presents, it was time to get to work. Fortunately, our guests were all bringing items so that not all of the meal items were our responsibility. In fact, I don't feel like I prepared too terribly much- a turkey breast, a whole turkey (it was small), sweet potato casserole, pie, a warm cheese dip, and cookies but there were many small details to attend to so Donnie and I stayed busy until our guests arrived. Said guests brought pies, potatoes, shrimp, cheesecake, meatballs, veggies, candy, fruit so we lacked for no food. We had a nice meal together and then opened some more presents.
By late afternoon, early evening, with bellies full and thankful hearts for the season, the reason for the season, and the day itself, our hosting duties ended and we embraced lassitude. The kitchen wasn't 100% cleaned up when our guests left but it wasn't atrocious and I called that good enough for the day. In the evening, the girls and Donnie watched a movie in the basement, Jacob hung out with Malcolm and I finished reading A Tale of Two Cities.
Christmas Eve before church
At Mark and Cindy's after church
Alyssa first opened a bag of chips in honor of her junk food predilection.
Back in the 'Boro
I took this picture at the top of the stairs on the landing. The mantle looks vaguely like it's on fire. Thankfully, it wasn't 😁.
Alyssa received a lot of small things on Christmas morning. Part of her Christmas gift is a bedroom make over. She's already received a new bed and bedding. We haven't purchased yet, but plan to purchase, a small sectional couch for her room. That is/ will be part of her Christmas.
Abby received a telescope as her biggest gift and then received a lot of smaller things, too. She's also getting a room make over as part of her Christmas but she isn't getting a new bed or a couch for her room (the latter would not fit in her room). She's getting new bedding, curtains and we'll paint/ change some of her décor in January.
Jacob's biggest gift is one he hasn't received yet. I wrote him a note, put it in a box, and wrapped it. The note said that we'd get him a laptop for college. But, I wanted to wait until closer to the time that he leaves for college to buy him one. Some schools recommend certain laptops and since we don't know where he's going, it seemed best to wait. I figured we'd be buying him one anyway- might as well get Christmas credit for it :). The kids' school district uses Google Classroom and as such recommends that students have Chromebooks which the kids have. But, I figured he'd need something more robust for college. Anyway, besides his IOU, he received mostly clothes.
and eight in the dining room.
I took no more pictures of the day. I wish I would have taken some of our food spread. But I didn't have my camera near me and didn't think of it.
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