Christmas in Jacksonville

Another Christmas has come and gone... already! But Ihave to stay, despite the 'flexed schedule' we had this year, I think it was a pretty good Christmas this year... all of them.

I flew down to FL the Wednesday before Christmas (Eric flew down two days later because of his work schedule), which I haven't done in awhile. So I haven't had the opportunity to do the pre-Christmas stuff in FL in a few years. And I had a nice surprise when I landed in Jacksonville... my niece and nephew were already in Jacksonville! They decided to surprise ME for a change! I loved it!! It gave us that much more time together. Too bad my Sis and BIL couldn't be there until later in the week, but I'll take what I can get, sometimes!

So that gave us Thursday to do some shopping! I was done with my Christmas shopping, but there were a few things the kids needed to pick up, and my Mom also wanted to do one last scavenge of stores. We had a productive day. Stayed ot longer than my nephew wanted, but then he is a teenage boy and that's just how they get, right?

Friday we had a day of baking! I baked my cookies and my Mom made some pies. It made for a long day in the kitchen, but it should made the house smell good! I actually did a bit more cooking than usual, this year. I just had so many recipes I wanted try out or introduce to my family. It was fun!

Friday night, Eric and I took the kids out for a night at Dave and Buster's. It was mainly to just get out of the house for the evening (especaially since we were there all day!) and also spend some time with just us and them. They had a good time, as did we. I'd love to do this every year - not necessarily D&B's, but go out somewhere and do something with just us and them.

Saturday (Christmas Eve) I made a yummy breakfast/brunch for the family before heading out shopping (again) with Eric. He wanted to do some 'research' on a shopping center during one of it's busiest shopping days. We had to pick up a few things, anyway, so why not? It isn't as stressful if you're not shopping, believe it or not... not having a deadline looming makes it seem less crowded, even.

We actually did midnight mass that night with the whole family - haven't done that in years! We all stayed awake, for the most part, but it wiped us out enough to make for a late Christmas morning start! Christmas morning... always a magical morning. Even withthe kids at the older ages, it's still a blast to all sit around the tree and open gifts. I think everyone got most of what they wanted (though I'm sure there were some things not received). Regardless, there were a lot of smiles and fun that day. Of course, there were also naps... something about being all cozy at home (plus midnight mass) just brings the naps on on Christmas Day.

I love Christmas!

We capped the night off with a big ham dinner, completes with all the fixin's! It was really yummy! Afterwards, we just enjoyed each other's company the rest of the night. It's nice not having stores open to entice you to leave the house. Not that we were itching to get out of the house. We were all happy just where we were.