It's Christmas!

We have always done a pretty unconventional 

Christmas Day celebration.

We just aren't "that" family.

But we always enjoy it.

And this year was no different.

We went to see Santa in Indialantic

on Christmas Eve as has been our

tradition for 37 years.

(We went the year BEFORE we were married too!)

Our neighbor told us about a street

that "does it UP" every Christmas Eve

so we drove over there to see that as well.

Goodness!

It's a culdesac (sp) and entire

street decorates,

puts their little fire dishes out

on the driveway,

some of them have snacks,

there was a couple of houses

with live music,

and there were a LOT of people

just walking the street enjoying

the beautiful evening and all the lights.

It was like a Hallmark movie!

LOL

(We didn't really know what we were

doing, so we drove, along with some

other people, but next year

I would like to find a place to park

{good luck}

and walk with the rest of the folks.)

Back to the house to enjoy some

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice soup

(pressure cooker - ready in 20 minutes

but tasted like it simmered all day)

and cheese and crackers etc

thanks to Mom & Dad's lovely gift!

Then off to bed for a decent night's sleep.

And NO little kids jumping on the bed

at 5:30 wanting to see Santa!

In fact, Rod slept in until about 6!

Maybe.

I don't know.

I didn't wake up until... 8:30? 9:00?

We had a nice breakfast

(eggs and bacon)

and Kyle headed next door to do some

land clearing.

The man can't stand to just sit around.

Before

Mid Process

He's amazing with his cat!

Rod and I rode over on the horses a little later

to check on his progress.

We have an active mountain bike (ha!)

club that use the trails.

One lady likes to decorate this tree,

and really did it up fancy for Christmas.

Added a life size person!

SCARED THE HORSES TO BITS!

Andy stepped on something (I think)

and ended up lame in his front right foot

so we cut our ride short and headed

back home to put the turkey 

in the oven.

Meanwhile,

Jim was doing some sunrise kayak fishing

with a couple of friends.

They caught a giant fish.

It was fun,

but he said the fish wasn't his favorite kind.

(OK, he said it was gross...  lol)

Jim and Sabrina

came over around 4:30,

Jim and I took the 4-wheeler over to

check on Kyle and bring him home

while Rod and Sabrina made the

sweet potato casserole.

Dinner was really nice,

I didn't even turn the oven off in the middle

of cooking, so the turkey was done

when I wanted it to be.

We bought a Butterball this time.

(They were on sale)

I'm going back to the cheap WalMart birds.

It didn't have a pop up button

and no gravy mix!

Sheesh!

After dinner we moved to the living

room and exchanged gifts.

Well, I "opened" my gift from Rod

in the morning.

I couldn't wait.

He bought and installed a beautiful

new screen front door!!!!!

Our old door was big and bulky

black fake wrought iron.

Rusty, missing all the panels on the bottom

(so sometimes the dogs sneak in)

(along with not keeping out any of the bugs)

so I was excited!!!

It's a beautiful door with a screen in

the top half that rolls up into the frame

so when the glass is up it's clear.

AWESOME!!!!!!

It lets in so much light

and fresh air!

(And NO bugs!)

It was a nice evening.

Sabrina made some peanut butter cookies

for all of us to share

and we sat and Jim entertained the guys

with You Tubes he had found 

about teeny tiny engines.

(???)

I had made Rod a t-shirt bag with

some beef jerky and a knit blanket

and called it a Plasma Donation Survival Kit.

He donates plasma a couple times each week

and said he nearly freezes to death.

And it's always good to have a quick

protein snack before donating

so the jerky will come in handy.

We decided the blanket wasn't big enough

and I had 2 more skeins of yarn,

so while they watched tiny engines,

I knit.

I also gave Rod a new telescope

so he and Kyle got it out and got it all

set up and found the moon and

had a great time messing with it!

Then they headed to bed

and I stayed up and finished his blanket

(about 2:30) since he was scheduled to donate

again today.

Which brings us to the close

of the day.

It was a lovely,

family filled,

wonderful,

eventful

but quiet

celebration of love and family

and all that is important.

Merry Christmas!