'Twas the Night Before Christmas (feat. In-Laws)

Merry Christmas Eve, boys and girls.

So, as you guys well know by now, the Houghs tend to get more excited about Christmas Eve than Christmas itself.  I won't get into it too much, because God knows I've explained all this crap before, but more or less it boils down to the whole anticipation vs. reality of the Holiday itself.  That being said, it should go without saying that since Christmas Eve is our favorite day of the year, we tend to go full tilt with it.

Due to last year's absolute shit-show of a Christmas Eve, we decided to keep things more low-key this year, circle the wagons, and make a huge day of it all by ourselves.  Holiday movie marathon, cook up a turkey and a bunch of sides, decorate some gingerbread men (Kris bought NinjaBread Men this year, which I wholeheartedly approved of), and have a few Christmas-y craft beers along the way. 

There's also the laundry list of mandatory Christmas Eve traditions all parents must adhere to on this most awesome of days:  kids get to open up one Christmas present (and it's always pajamas or robes or some crap like that), leaving out milk and cookies for Santa (though, in this house, we substitute Egg Nog for milk, and add apples and carrots for Rudolph and his squad), the Dad (me) reading The Night Before Christmas, and, once the kids are in bed, the parents setting out all the frickin' gifts and prepping the stockings.

It's a lot to squeeze into one day, but holy crap do I ever love it.

Scarlett and Kyan get their Gingerbread on. . .

Well, even though our initial plans were to keep things simple this year, Kris threw out the invitation to her family that our doors were open.  They have a tendency of canceling plans, so we didn't think much of it.  This year, however, everyone managed to show up (minus Marcy and Mickey's husbands, who were either sick or working.)  So we had a full house once again this year.  Didn't manage to get out to the evening Christmas Eve church service like Kris wanted to (yet again), but once everyone left around 5pm-ish, we had more than enough time to check off all the stuff on our Christmas Eve To-Do List.

Here we go. . .

Victoria and her boyfriend, Jaden.

Crystal and Scarlett

While everyone was decorating gingerbread houses, I worked in the kitchen prepping the turkey, keeping up on dishes, and otherwise acting like a housewife.

I managed to sneak out for a little bit to snap a few pics with the SLR, though.

Potatoes

Twins

That's a lot of sugar.

This year we decided to simplify the entire turkey process.  We bought a turkey breast (opposed to the whole bird), and after I prepped it the way I usually do we just stuck it in Kris' InstantPot for an hour, thereabouts.  It came out perfect, and there was far less hassle.  Thank you very much, Technology.

This part of the process always takes forever. . .

Tearing into dinner.  Kris' veggie pizza and diced potatoes - and my turkey - are always a big hit, but she made quinoa with feta cheese and lime this year and her family didn't take to it all that much.  Oh well.

Marcy and Mickey requested a group picture, so Brian and his Tripod obliged.

After all the in-Laws left for their own respective homes, the Houghs broke out the NinjaBread men and Abby and Kris began to decorate them (I was still picking up crap in the kitchen.)

Alayna and Watson, vegging out in front of the TV.  As usual.

Abby's sloppy-ass ninja.

Alayna eventually made one.

Abby requested a picture of her NinjaBread man/woman/whatever in front of 'its house.'

The Aftermath

Having decorated some NinjaBread men and tidied up the kitchen and dining room following a crazy afternoon of eating and visiting, we retired to the Living Room to watch some old home videos of Christmases from when the kids were little (something the girls always love doing.)

The last day of Advent.  Kris found an app that was perfect for this - it read aloud the Advent story, and played some comically bad CGI animations in the background.  We've tried for years finding generic Bible passages online for Advent, to go along with the calendars we usually buy the girls, but there's nothing great to be found.  Google has jack shit.  After 1500 years, how is this not readily available information? 

Thanks again, Technology.

Following Advent Calendars, we let the girls open up their Christmas Eve presents.

. . . aaaaand it's pajamas.  No surprises there.

Kris made me open this tonight, too (it was supposed to be in my stocking, but it wouldn't fit.)

Pajama pants.  So at least the theme is consistent.

And they're National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation -themed, which is awesome.

While the girls dressed up in their new pajamas, brushed their teeth, and started the wind-down process, I went around the house and began taking pictures of festiveness.  Here we have my personal office/den, the Captain's Quarters (and a little Disney's Christmas Carol action going on, via VHS.)

The Study (my favorite room in the house.)

The girls have been practicing Christmas songs with their piano teacher, Mr. Bill, for months.  'Tis the Season.

Holiday vinyl.  Of course.

Traditional nativity setup and a horde of tobacco pipes.  Not sure if that's sacrilegious or not, but. . . whatever.

Rosie and the Stockings.

Watson, still hoping for a handout.  He must've been pretty pissed he didn't get a single scrap of turkey this year (we learned from our mistakes in previous years - we weren't about to have him leaving diarrhea piles all over the carpet again.)

At the end of the night, it was time to leave out cookies for Santa (provided by Marcy again this year - we can always count on her to bring baked goods over to our house during the Holidays.)

Alayna has difficulty finding the Nog in our filled-to-the-brim refrigerator.

Fruits and veggies for the reindeer.

Kris Skypes with her mom so she can watch the girls open up some of their Christmas gifts from her.  We wanted the girls to open up their book lights Marcy got them, since we both knew they weren't about to fall asleep any time soon, and reading would keep them entertained.

Right before the girls went to bed, it was time for Yours Truly to read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, 'cause Tradition.  I bought a leather-bound collection of Christmas stories and poems from Barnes and Noble this year (I collect their Collection Editions for my Study library), and so we got to read the poem in its entirety this year.  I had no idea the poem is actually called 'A Visit from St. Nicholas,' which is weird.

I snuck this pic of Abby as she read Christmas stories from this book to her stuffed animals.  Obviously pretty excited for the morning.

Kris hung out with her for a bit, and helped her wind down.  Not that Abby was going to bed any time soon (her sister wasn't any better, either.)

The girls each wrote a note to Santa, like they usually do.  I hate it when they do this, because I have to write them responses, and it takes me forever because I use a different handwriting style.  Over the years I've developed four different styles for various mythical entities, in the leaving of notes for the girls, for Scavenger Hunt clues, etc:  Santa, the Tooth Fairy (hers is pretty similar to Santa's), the Easter Bunny, and Rosie Peppermint (the girls' Elf on the Shelf.)  Someday these frickin' kids better appreciate all my hard work over the years, supplying their asses with wondrous childhood magic on a regular basis.

Kris and I set to work setting out all the Christmas presents (from 'us,' at first), arranging them under and around the tree in the order we wanted the girls to open them, and then sat down to watch the Greatest Christmas Movie of All Time in order to kill some more time.  We knew damn well the girls were still wide awake, and we weren't about to start breaking out the Santa gifts and stockings until we were sure they were out.

'Santa' strikes again. . .

Abby's letter.  She requested - at the last, f***ing second - for her stuffed bear to receive a bow tie in its stocking (yes, she hung up a stocking for her stuffed bear.)  So, as a result, Yours Truly had to rummage around in the Halloween costume bins, where fortunately I had an old bow tie the kids didn't know about.  Christmas saved once again.

Fortunately Alayna didn't have any last-minute requests for 'Santa.'

All systems GO for Christmas Morning.

A whiskey at the end of a long, long day.  Mission accomplished.

- Brian