Family and Friends

We spent last night at my brother's house. There were supposed to be lots of people there, but my SIL's family bowed out at the last minute. My dad and his girlfriend were there, and a surprise: my mom and grandfather showed up. My mom and dad together for Christmas eve! Who'd a' thunk it!? And they were pleasant with one another! Mom was more pleasant with dad than she was with me. Amazing things truly happen during Christmas. ;) My nephew was the center of attention for the duration of the evening. He was all smiles and laughing and giggling. Everything was interesting. He opened his presents from grandma and grandpa, and while daddy was taking the toys out of their boxes and removing any dangerous parts, nephew was busy turning the wrapping into a toy, running around waving it in the air. Occasionally he'd bump into something or fall over, and there would be tears, but as soon as something else caught his attention, it was back to smiles and giggles. After nephew was put to bed, daddy and Uncle Chris got out the big present for Christmas morning (a Playschool train set). I swear daddy and Uncle Chris had as much fun putting it together as nephew will have playing with it. Once it was assembled, we all sat around playing with it, and the interest of the adults was hilarious. The age range on the box said 2+, and they weren't kidding about the plus. We left my brother's house around 9:30pm, came home, and immediately went next door to our neighbor's Christmas Eve party. Given that the party started around 3pm and we arrived around 10:00pm, everyone already was very sloshed. The host's entire family was there, and he has one son (Joey) who is particularly cute. Joey's also very nice, so we chatted with him for a while. Other neighbors we hadn't seen since last year's Christmas Eve party were there, and we talked to them all, though I'm sure they won't remember it. That was our Christmas Eve. Today will be spent relaxing and cooking dinner. A quiet and peaceful day for us, something we wish for everyone. Spider said it perfectly, so I will pass that on as our Christmas wish to you. P.S., an update on my leg: it is healing very quickly. I'm able to hobble around without crutches, and it's getting better every day. I feel very fortunate. It is one of Spider's ordinary miracles. Thanks everyone for your well-wishes and good thoughts.