After dropping the dogs off at my parents' house we headed over to my great aunt and uncles house! Their grandkids are still younger so it's fun go get to see them get their presents!
After dinner, we decided to honor the Battjer family tradition of opening a few presents on Christmas even. Nothing too serious, just a little present-foreplay. We started with the gifts from Santa.
Leigh had just gotten back in town from a trip to Turkey and came over on Wednesday so we could swap gifts before we left for Florida later that evening. It's an...
Some of them were holiday presents...but most of them were part of the emergency food supply that I'd ordered. (Back in the W years, this seemed like a good thing to have laying around. It also finally confirmed Meredith's suspicion that I'd graduated from "eccentric" onto "full-blown weirdo.")
After I got back, Meredith and I got krunked on Pina Colada wine coolers (I love how tropically festive it looks next to the holiday basket in the background)...
You never know exactly what kind of assortment of items my mom er, Santa will put in your stocking, but it will usually be both good and weird. Like this trail mix / six different flavors of chapstick combo. Score!
Mom and dad getting ready to empty their stockings. Christmas is the one time of the year when my mom explicitly buys my dad candy - the rest of the year she gives him a hard time every single time he wants to have a treat. Look how excited he is to get his candy on. Awesome.
Meredith thought she'd be okay sans crutches, but right when we got off the plane she reinjured it pretty badly and it swelled right back up. After we'd finished our latkes, we ran out to the store to pick up ANOTHER pair of crutches. (Which was no big deal because crutches are WAY easier to find near a retirement village in Florida than they are in the East Village.)
Another holiday dinner! Clockwise from left: My cousin Chris, mom, Amy, Brett, Amanda, my cousin Steve and Mer. (If I remember correctly, this is right before we all got into a big discussion about global warming - because my cousin Chris, who is a consultant for oil companies, doesn't believe it's real. Or that if it is, it's just part of a natural cycle and has nothing to do with humans burning pretty much the ENTIRE oil supply that took x years to develop in just the last 100-odd years. Hmmm....)
The next day a bunch of relatives came to our house for Christmas dinner. Clockwise from bottom left: Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Wayne, mom, Aunt Elaine, Amy and Brett. Meredith and I = TOTALLY CROPPED OUT! Thanks, dad! Haha.
Later that night, we drove back to my parent's house and we found that our stockings had been stuffed! Meredith even has a stocking with her name on it! (Translation: My mom loves Meredith).
Amanda shows off The Blind Watchmaker (which HAD to be gift from the Fatty - he's been all about Richard Dawkins since before he became a household name).
...THIS AMAZING PHOTO! Hahahaha. Holy shit, this pic makes me LOL every time I see it. (Bonus points for the chopsticks standing in as a spear to the ribs!)
At some point during the appetizers, we noticed that Amanda was wearing a hoodie with a zipper that went all the way around the hood! So when she zipped it up ALL THE WAY...
Now that my dad is retired and my mom is still working, she said it's only fair that HE should start cooking dinner a few times a week. She's been saying this for years and I think it's yet to happen. So for Christmas she got him a few of Rachael Ray's books to help him along.
...my mom and dad. My mom kept hiding her face because it was really early in the morning and she didn't have any make up on and she told me that she "didn't want the Internets to see her this way." Hahaha.
Sunday was Christmas Day for the Battjers! It was kind of quiet this year because my brother was out in Ohio with his girlfriend's family so it was just me and...
Saturday was Christmas Eve so I went down to South Jersey with my family to attend my Great Uncle and Great Aunt's annual Christmas Eve party. Here's my mom with my Great Uncle Walt and Aunt Ann!
