Since we all did so well in surviving the Mayan apocalypse, we were rewarded with another Christmas which came around once again. Christmas Eve this year fell on Monday, December 24, 2012 – and the good people at my work decided to just go ahead and give us the whole day instead of interrupting our long weekend with what would be a half-day of work. I had gotten most of my chores and wrapping the day before (thanks to Ashleigh), so I didn’t have much to do except to enjoy some down time that morning, watching Cheers on DVD, playing on Facebook, working on my iTunes, cleaning the litter box, and getting a few things ready to take to Denise’s house (although I had already loaded my gifts into the car).
I headed out for Denise’s house at about 3:15pm, bringing along some cheese cubes and Ritz Flips for my edible contribution to the evening’s family affair. I got there at 4:45 to find that most of the others had already arrived: Mom & Bob (who had been there over the weekend), Dad, Bill & Dottie, Rob & Amber and Vivi. It was good to see the latter trio, as they had made their way from their new home in Monterey, California. This was the first time I got to meet Vivi, who was born on February 29 this year.
My first meeting with Vivi
Ashleigh & Stephen and Silas would arrive shortly thereafter and then we would dig into the food which included an amazing spread of goodies: turkey, ham, stuffing, corn, green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes, and lot of great appetizers like shrimp, cheeseballs, crackers, nuts, cookies, olives, soda, and adult beverages. Once I started shoveling this fabulous food in, I couldn’t stop until it was time to sleep. I felt like I was carrying a baby by the time it was all said and done.
Dad and Denise chat over snacks
Bob carves and Denise bombs
Mom digs into the stuffing
Mom sees that Silas gets his mealtime cracker
Ashleigh gives Silas his Christmas dessert hot dog chunks
We were hoping Briana would join us before it was time to open gifts, but alas she didn’t get there until afterward. Of course, it was Adam and Megan who served on the steering committee of the gift clawing melee. Adam passed them out to the group.
Silas tears into his first gift with reckless abandon
Vivi and Silas tackle their gifts with equal confusion
Silas indicates approval of this puzzle
Mom cuddles up with the blanket that Ashleigh made for her
Proudly displaying the Superman blanket that Ashleigh made. What a talented kid I made.
A sign for Megan’s door, which ended up on the downstairs bathroom doorknob throughout the evening
Silas gets into the spirit of tearing
The Touch & Learn Storytime gift from me
Silas takes a break from gifts to study this knick knack
Adam shows how he will defend Christmas. At least Silas is impressed.
The post gift-shredding rubble
Here is what I gave: To Mom: Twilight – Breaking Dawn Part 1 DVD, $25 Olive Garden gift card. To Bob: Wedding Crashers DVD. To Dad: The Andy Griffith Show Season 2 DVD set, and Air Tool Oiler and Filter (don’t ask). To Vicki (who wasn’t there): Squirrel Nut Zippers Hot CD. To Denise: The Notebook and Something Borrowed DVDs and The Hunger Games Blu-Ray. To Aaron: Clone Wars Season 4 Blu-Ray (from Dad and me). To Ashleigh: $200, The Pineapple Express and Superbad DVDs, The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection DVD (for her and Silas). To Briana: iPod Nano 16GB. To Adam: Epic Mickey Power of Illusion 3DS game. To Megan: Scout the Monkey Stuffie. To Silas: Elmo 12 Days of Christmas book, knick knack shelf for his room, Jake and the Neverland Pirates poster, Vtech Touch and Learn Storytime, $50 for his account.
Here is what I got: From Mom: DVD’s of Murder by Death, Aresenic and Old Lace, and Leave It to Beaver (the movie), $25 Chick-fil-A gift card, two picture calendars from Snapfish. From Bob: Scooby Doo t-shirt. From Dad: Living in the Material World DVD, Magical Mystery Tour DVD, $35 From the Ocks: Modern Family Season 2 DVD, History Channel Disney World DVD, From Ashleigh: Superman blanket that she made. From Briana: Dress socks, Cookie Monster t-shirt.
Briana showed up after we finished and grabbed some food and then opened her gifts. Everyone else resumed with the eating that had begun with dinner less than an hour earlier. Of course it was fun to socialize with the family and play with Silas. Unfortunately, he begin to wear out by about 7:30 and wasn’t cooperating for photos so I didn’t get a good one of him and me by the tree, nor one of all the little ones, nor the one Dad wanted with his grandkids. But of course we did get our seventh annual photo of the four F*rrell clan that began in 2006.
Briana arrives and starts at the beginning
Not one of his new gifts, but he’ll play with Adam’s Grave Digger anyway
Rob and Amber sit back with Vivi and ponder the gift opening madness that they’ve just bore witness to
Vivi shines
When Silas gets into a bad mood, this is the best we can do with a kids group photo
A trio of generations
With my girls
Further attempts to console Silas end with pictuers like this, where somehow I end up looking worse than he does
The seventh annual Christmas family portrait
Ashleigh and company left about 7:45, Bill & Dottie and their family took off shortly after, and Dad stayed for about another hour. I stayed the night so that I could watch the kids open their loot the next morning. Adam made sure that everyone enjoyed the TV show Wipeout, but I figured out that I could do it whilst listening to Elbow on my iPod. We then went through the ritual of putting out the cookies and (chocolate) milk for Santa Claus.
Silas calms down as Ashleigh takes him to the food zone
Finally we get smiles and a round and round of kisses as the kids take off
Payment for Santa’s kindness
I was also able to use Denise’s laptop to get on Facebook and greet my new friend Kiersten as well as sadly finding out that a former classmate named Greg Rose (whose parents are best friends with Diana & Tom) had passed away that morning. It was a disturbing bit of news especially on the heels of all of the death that the world had seen in December.
Such horribleness really made me appreciate my family and our closeness this Christmas.
The events of the holiday will continue on Christmas day…
The film “Murder By Death” is one of my favorites! It’ll make a nice addition to your film archive. I hope Silas will enjoy the “Our Gang” films as he continues to grow.
Well, it looks as though all the kiddos made out pretty well with the family gifts. I’m sure Santa’s visit was even better!
Dave Chasteen
December 29th, 2012
Great posting. I know I often mention it, but someday, sometime, I really do want to get out to Ohio and be a F*rrell/M*rphy, if only for a day or a weekend.
Anyway, lots of notes:
-I love Silas’s sweater with the “tie.”
-I guess we can add turkey carving to the long list of skills of Bob Ch*ndler — the guy is awesome.
-The Andy Griffith Show Season 2 to Mr. F*rrell? Awesome.
-The Notebook to Denise? A great example of how James Garner is just a great actor all the way around, not just on Rockford.
-The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection to Ashleigh? I know this personal blog of yours isn’t a forum for debate, but I question you — who should know better — giving her (and Silas) something that includes some of the Blackhawk titles instead of the originals. I’m not trying to debate you, I just question it…
-Props to Mrs. Ch*ndler for giving you Aresenic and Old Lace — an old favorite of mine. I hope you’ve had a chance to see it.
-Props to Ashleigh for giving you a Superman blanket. I’m not any huge Superman fan, but I think that’s a very original, thoughtful, and personal gift that clearly took some time on her part.
-And hey, what would Christmas be without a Scooby Doo T-Shirt from Bob Ch*ndler? I’m serious, I really want to party with that guy.
Peter
May 23rd, 2013