The Terrible Catsafterme

With the way things were shaping up throughout December, I had much to look forward for the 2011 holiday season. This would be Silas’ first Christmas, and although at less than 8 months old, he wouldn’t really know what was going on, there was bound to be ample cuteness. This was also the first Christmas that I would be spending with Jamie, and we had made plenty of plans to spend time together. Although I would have liked to have her at my family gathering on Christmas Eve night, she was spending that evening with her folks and had allotted quite a bit of time for me on Christmas Day.

December 24th fell on a Saturday this year. This was nice at it meant a half-day of work the day before and the Monday following Christmas off. Obviously being a Saturday, our office was closed on Christmas Eve.

Jamie and I got up that morning and had a nice breakfast at Waffle House. I made sure to remember that our waitress was working on Christmas Eve. Then we went back home and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas. Jamie headed out around 1pm that afternoon, and I began to get together the gifts, food, and clothes I’d be bringing to Westerville for our family Christmas celebration at Denise and Aaron’s house. I was in charge of the bread, buns, soda, and I brought along some extra Jarlsberg cheese dip and buffalo pretzels.

I headed up to Westerville, chatting with my friend Dean along the way, and arrived a little before 5pm. Mom & Bob had been there since the morning, and my Dad & Vicki and Bill & Dottie had already arrived. Ashleigh and Silas weren’t far behind me. And Briana, although late, would eventually make her way there.

The food spread was absolutely incredible… probably the grandest we’ve ever had on Christmas Eve. I regretted that I only had one stomach to give to the cause (although I’m certain I had more room in there than last year). We had ham, turkey, green beans, potatoes, shrimp, meatballs, Oriental salad, homemade Chex mix, cheese and crackers, chips, dips, banana bread, pumpkin roll, pies, cookies, and soda. There was a ridiculous number of choices, and everything was amazing. Denise and Mom did an excellent job of preparing everything.

The food frenzy begins

A portion of the dessert sector

Mom is eager to begin some ham chewing

Silas is content with some book chewing

The happy boy’s first Christmas

Mom and Dad do some investigation of their cameras

All the grandkids, both the great and the small

Ashleigh and Silas, radiant souls

We quickly segued from the dinner portion of the evening into the gift shredding portion which began promptly at 6:19pm. Briana showed up (following a diaper-picking-up mishap at Meijer) just as we were about to start, so she caught up on food for the first segment. Adam, with the assistance of the lovely Megan, acted as the gift distributor, stopping to open his own gifts whenever possible. Silas was really good while the gifts were being open. For most of it, he parked himself in the middle of the living room floor and reached for anything he could grab and put in his mouth. I did also learn from Ashleigh that Silas can stand on his own while holding on to the couch, and I witnessed him doing such.

Adam and Megan survey the loot

The elf hats make them worthy of handing out gifts

Megan’s first gift was the pink Barbie Jam with Me Rock Star Guitar that I got for her. Somehow the wrapping paper had gotten ‘accidentally’ torn by her while we were all eating, so she ran into the room to announce that she could see the Barbie guitar under the paper. This seemed to be one of her biggest highlights, and she was seen throughout the evening ‘jamming’ on it.

Megan finishes the job she had already begun: opening the Barbie guitar

Here is what I gave: To Mom & Bob: mug rack, $50 Olive Garden gift card. To Dad & Vicki: Laurel and Hardy DVD set, $25 Olive Garden gift card. To Denise: Laurel and Hardy DVD set, Bridesmaids DVD. To Aaron: Clone Wars Season 3 Blu-Ray (from Mom and me). To Ashleigh: Sewing machine, $25 Kroger gift card. To Briana: $50. To Adam: Brilliant Creations Advance Notebook, Little Rascals Vol.7 DVD, Wii Monster Truck – Path of Destruction game with wheel. To Megan: Barbie Jam with Me Rock Star Guitar, Baby Belle doll. To Silas: I opened a bank account for him with $100, rattle, Fisher Price Rumble and Learn Driver. And I brought along my newsletters for Denise, Ashleigh, and Briana.

Here is what I got: From Mom: Nightmare Before Christmas pajama pants and t-shirt, $25 Chick-fil-A gift card, Five Generations picture frame, two bottles of lotion, Community season one DVDs, picture calendar from Snapfish. From Dad: Time: 75 Years book, Life: Legends book, mousepad with picture of Silas on it, Bob Newhart: Button Down Concert DVD, Dragnet 1968 DVD, Dragnet 25 episodes DVDs, The Lucy Show season two DVDs,  From the Ocks: Facts of Life season four DVDs, In the Line of Duty: The FBI Murders DVDs, Cheers t-shirt, Ohio State shirt. From Ashleigh: Muppet Abbey Road t-shirt. From Briana: iPod shoulder strap, ceramic pot that she made.

The Advanced Notebook that I got for Adam

Vicki shows off the cat treats that Adam and Megan got for her

Silas goes straight for the bow

Briana, in typical late teenage fashion, is just now getting her food ingested

Silas is pleased enough to just be at the center of the gift-opening frenzy

Bob receives a gift card to Lowes and is understandably jubilant

A new rattle from his Grandpa

Mom steps in for Grandpa Murphy to wear the bow this year

Silas plays with the car dashboard that I gave him

He tries to help open the gifts…

…but gets distracted by a phone call

Bill and Dottie observe the goings-on whilst simultaneously blocking the TV

I open the cool Five Generations frame from Mom

Megan adds a new cowboy hat to her ensemble and strums away

7pm: The damage is done to the living room as the gift opening winds down

Everyone hung around and socialized for quite a while. Bill and Bob became interested and possibly hooked on playing Angry Birds on Aaron’s iPad. As usual, this was initiated by Adam, who had moved on to playing some of his new Wii games. It was hard to stay away from the kitchen counter full of food, as it made good stuff on which to snack. I also waited for the ice to harden in the trays in order to enjoy some Vernor’s ginger ale at its coldest.

Mom takes a break from peddling jewelry to play some Angry Birds with Dottie

Aaron gives Silas a healthy toss

Briana thought she’d join Silas in fussing. Little did she know that I have the power to turn his frown the other way around.

Yaht and me, sharing our 22nd Christmas together

With the beautiful young ladies

Mom gets ticked off and gives Silas a wallop in the mouth

Actually this is what she was doing

Ashleigh coaxes Bill and Bob into a healthy Angry Birds competition

I think the shirt stain helps make Santa Silas too cute for words

Our sixth annual traditional family Christmas Eve portrait

Megan in her new boots, hat, and guitar strap is picture perfect by the tree

Ashleigh, Silas, and Briana  took off around 8:45. They were heading back to Kettering to stay at Stephen’s parents’ house so that Silas could have his Santa visit that morning with both of his parents. Dad & Vicki and Bill & Dottie followed them out the door. Mom & Bob and I stayed over that night. The ladies headed to bed after we all witnessed Adam and Megan trying to pose with cookies and chocolate milk for Santa Claus at around 10pm. Bob, Aaron, and I stayed up for a bit watching the addicting TV show Dumbest Stuff on Wheels. I headed down to the basement at around midnight to work my way through the toy maze and fall asleep on the futon.

Megan and Adam gingerly place Santa’s cookies onto the designated plate

Time for bed, but Adam would be up about two more hours pondering the whereabouts of his newest Monster Truck

Although it would have been better to have Jamie with me, I must say it was one of the best Christmas Eves I’ve had in a long, long time.

2011 will conclude with Christmas Day…

A parting shot, capable of warming even the coldest of hearts

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 27th, 2011 at 6:50 am and is filed under 2010's - Early, Christmas, Family Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.