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We arrived at Iris, Jason, Claire, and Maya’s house after way too many hours in the car. We were hungry and grumpy, but as we walked up to the house we could hear the kids shout, “They’re here, they’re here,” over and over again. The door opened and my nieces crowded around, shouting and jumping up and down for hugs and kisses. All the frustration from driving melted away replaced with the feeling of Christmas spirit. The kids were dying to open the presents. They had already been allowed to open a couple to control the chaos. Iris got us started on some food, so Josh and I fed our faces as fast as we could so the girls could rip into their loot. When we finished, a maddened frenzy of ripping and tearing of presents ensued for a few minutes. Then the adults took turns opening their Secret Santa gifts. I was lucky enough to be Josh’s Santa, so I got to buy him ski gear. I was super excited Jason got me the camera I wanted, especially since we (by that, I mean Josh) had left the memory card to the old one at home. I didn’t even want to wait for it it to charge!

Next we ate a wonderful dinner with all the fixings; Iris really out did herself. I loved the glazed ham. Iris wisked away the plates once the nibbling and talking died down. We then headed to the fireplace to break open our stockings (we upgraded to decorated grocery bags since we had so much loot). Muff got the best gift; Mom made Muff a scrapbook of her and Rick. I got mostly scrapbook stuff, an 8gb memory card, chico bags, energy saving light bulbs, a necklace, and the list goes on. Mostly I was playing with my camera that now had a little bit of charge. After everyone tired of showing off their gifts, the girls began their ritualized attacking of Josh while the rest of us looked on in amusement (I had to rescue his glasses). The girls were finally distracted with decorating gingerbread houses that Iris made. I think they shoved more decorations in their mouth than onto the houses. Next they set up cookies and milk for the big guy. Then we read to them, tucked them in with kisses and hugs, and sent them to bed so we could talk into the night.

Last weekend my family and I went to see TSO to start the holidays out right. Last year my husband and I were invited to go with his parents a week or two before Christmas. We enjoyed ourselves so much that I wanted to share it with my parents. The concerts are filled with Christmas rock music set to flames and a laser show. No matter where you sit in the audience you can feel the oppressive heat of the flames, and sometimes the crazy laser show is overwhelming on the eyes. I first learned about TSO when my husband showed me a video on YouTube of a crazy person who rigged their christmas lights to play to the one of the TSO songs. Here is a link to an old one on YouTube. I would recommend this show to everyone.