Not exactly the 3-ring circus. We got up late--8:30-ish, after having stayed up way too late Christmas Eve watching something I can't even remember on TV--oh, yeah. It starred Susan Sarandon and several other good actors who should have known better. It had been a frustrating 4-hour drive from SF for Dylan and Rachel (should be only 2 1/2). Then we sat down to a lovely, slow asian hot pot dinner (a bit of a tradition with us, now, three years running). After dinner, we cleaned up and hung out in the living room, inadvertently getting sucked into whatever-it-was.
Christmas morning, we all woke up to big snow flakes falling from the sky (it was, like, "cue the snow!"). It only lasted half the day, or so, and mostly melted later, but it was SO pretty! We shuffled around all morning, munching and drinking tea or coffee, laughing at Dylan's hair. It seemed to have a life of its own (see next entry).
Sometime, mid-day, or so, we ambled in to open presents. No hurries, no fuss (I think we've nailed this Christmas Day style!). A Christmas Story was playing in the background. Some way or another, we've worked it into our activities every year since it first came out in theaters in '83. We never just sit and watch it straight through, though. Don't need to. We could act out the whole thing without the movie whenever we wanted.
I think we all do a pretty good job of thoughtful, personal gifts every year. There are often handmade things. This year, Dylan made gorgeous cutting boards for Rachel and us. He has a million designs in his head and they're all amazing. I goofed up and didn't reset the camera mode from some earlier time, so the photos are not so great, this year, but you'll get the gist.
Ours is maple and paduka wood. Rachel's is walnut. Hers is end-cut laminations on the top, but most interesting from the sides and bottom. So cool! Like an upside-down city. Of course Dylan had to take them back home with him to do some finishing...(Cont'd....)
