A merry Christmas

We had a lovely weekend; I'm looking forward to a lovely week ahead. (When I don't blog, Marianne thinks I've died.  I won't have died, plus I'll be with Marianne so everything should be fine.)

Friday Adam and I did our traditional Christmas Eve shopping trip, but this time we stopped into Carter's and Osh Kosh B'Gosh to look at baby clothes.  

It's hard to know if the baby will be big like my babies or tiny like Anna.

Time will tell.

We started a new tradition, but I don't think it has staying power unless we tweak it some.

We went to Target.  Everyone had $20 to spend and 20 minutes to shop.  We drew names in the parking lot, so there was no premeditation about it all.

I drew Mark's name and the only Legos they had in the store were a $99 set.  What?!?  Legos had been my ace in the hole!

The store was picked clean and it was increasingly distressing as time passed.  When we got back to the car Adam said he felt at turns like crying or throwing up because he was so stressed (not to be overly dramatic or anything).  Gift selecting is fraught for that guy in the best circumstances.  

We decided if we do it again, we will go earlier in the Christmas season so everything is still in stock.  Everyone was pleased with their gifts though.  Emma got me nail polish.  Mark got Adam and book.  I got Mark a Lego stocking cap.  Adam got Emma Code Names Duet, which I had debated getting for Mark.

We had chicken tikka masala for dinner and then had a small program discussing The Living Christ and Adam read to us from the scriptures.  Then we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas because that's all Mark wants for Christmas.

We decided 8:00 was our call time the next morning but then neither Adam nor I slept well and I texted in the middle of the night that we were pushing it to 9:00.  There were no complaints.  Adult children for the win.

I didn't see it until Sunday afternoon when I was clearing stuff away, but Emma left this on the hearth:

Gift giving is always a joyous time for me, whose love language is gifts.  One of my favorites of the day was this gift Mark gave Adam:

We will have to direct it to the proper recipient once she arrives.

Mark picked up a box from under the tree with his name on it.  He said, "I heard the bricks on Christmas day."

Both kids got Lego sets and were happy about it.

In the afternoon we talked to Braeden and Anna, who had a merry time with Anna's family in California, then we went to a movie.  We decided on West Side Story and I hated it.  I knew all the songs and I knew it was a Romeo and Juliet story, but I was not prepared for how brutal and depressing it was.  

So I don't recommend that.

We came home and had nachos, deciding to push our ham dinner to the next day.  

It was just the kind of low key happy celebratory weekend I love.

(Except West Side Story.)