Now, That Is Odd

Christmas was strange this year, at least for the boys and me.  Not bad at all, just…different.

Leading up to this Christmas, I had trouble getting into the spirit.  These last few years I haven’t felt my usual, “YAY for Christmas!” self.  It wasn’t that I wasn’t glad it was coming, or that I felt miserable, it was more a lack of excitement, and there was no fudge made, no divinity (when I was married, I would bake/cook up a storm between Thanksgiving and Christmas).  I’ve pretty much just been relishing the fact that I don’t have homework to do or papers to write, and that I’ve been able to sleep late and get lost in the newest Stephen King novel.

Christmas Eve, which is usually spent having a sort-of big dinner with my parents and step-brothers, ended up being quiet, with just us and the parents having BLTs for dinner.  Not exactly Christmas-y, but delicious nonetheless.  The boys were allowed to open one of their presents from under the tree, and Little J and I watched a few holiday episodes of shows on Nickelodeon (Big J is just too cool for that sort of thing anymore) before bed.  Once they were tucked in, I put my Santa hat on and arranged their stockings, then went to bed and watched some episodes of Six Feet Under.  (This is a great show, by the by.  Oh!  The characters are wonderful!) 

We got up at 7, which is super early when you don’t fall asleep until 2, and opened presents.  The boys both loved their Santa gifts (video games), and seemed to like their gifts from my parents and me.  I got some pretty sweaters and boots, and my dad sent us some gift cards – mine will go towards us doing some fun stuff over break. 🙂  They played their new games while I read…King has the ability to completely suck me in, and my parents and step-brothers made the drive to my step-grandparents house a few hours away.  We had the house to ourselves, and that in itself was a great gift.  We pretty much just hung out all morning, and had a small lunch of ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and veggies (everything was leftovers but the stuffing), and took a nap. 

When we woke up, we made all of our calls and decided to go to the movies.  Never having gone to the movies on Christmas day, I naively said “Sure!  That’s a great idea!”  Oh, me.  I looked up the times for the Chipmunks movie, and decided we’d go to the theater in Michigan because it’s super cheap.  We got there right before the movie was supposed to start, and had to drive all over looking for parking – not a good sign.  The show was sold out, and we had just driven 30 minutes to find that out.  Wah, wah.  We checked the other theater in our town, and the next show was in 30 minutes, followed by another in an hour and a half.  Okay.  So we drove home, waiting a bit, then headed to our local, more expensive theater.  We did make it in time for the show!  We ended up eating dinner from McDonald’s, which was really weird to me, but Little J said he liked it as opposed to the usual big dinner (weird, weird).  We also went over to my friend Keith’s house for a little bit and played a card game before coming home and going to bed.

Did anyone else have strange experiences this year?  I mean, aside from the usual disgruntled family members?