Christmas Happenings

It's been quiet here and it's all because, thankfully, I've been busy at work and then when I get home-- so it's left no time for blogging. Even Christmas weekend, blogging was the least of my worries (sleeping was at the top). But I wanted to share about my Christmas because it was the first Christmas being married so it changed everything!
It was a bit of a struggle to figure out how to make everyone happy and have Christmas be different. Because we've added a member to the family, and I no longer live at home, that right there changed the dynamics of Christmas. Another big difference was that we didn't go to church on Christmas eve. My parents no longer attend church, my sister goes to church in Fort Collins so doesn't know anyone at our church, and Michael and I really didn't care about going to church. We honestly didn't see the point in going to church when we could just as easily have a "service" at our own house in our pj's :-)
So Michael played some songs and I did a short reading and then our friends came over and we enjoyed their company and laughed really hard at not knowing how to sing at all! We sang "The Instrument Song" and to say it was a complete disaster would be an understatement! But it's not meant to be taken seriously, and it lived up to expectations.
We ended the night by me and Michael and my sister all sleeping in one room. I slept just fine throughout the night, but was woken up by giggles and whispers... at 6 freaking 30 in the morning! Michael and my sister were wide awake (my sister woke up at 1:30am wondering if it was time to get up yet and reluctantly went back to sleep) and discussing if it was time to get up... Oh, I forgot to mention my sister's almost 21 and Michael is 24-- I thought I was sharing a room with 5 year-olds! But their excitement made me that much more excited and we all wandered downstairs to look at our stockings.
I knit Michael's stocking, per tradition in my (mom's side) family. The thing was humongous! But Michael didn't mind! But I was really proud of myself for having completed it and being able to have his match everyone else's. (I think I'll knit ones for Michael's side of the family for next year...)
We then read the Christmas story, and my attempts at trying to have a discussion were shot down as Michael and my sister were too busy drooling at the presents under the tree. We opened stockings and presents and my sister captured an awesome picture of Michael when he opened one of his gifts (one of the best parts about him is that he is very enthusiastic with everything he does, so giving gifts (and good food) to him is always enjoyable!) He got me tickets to go see "Phantom of the Opera" which I had called him about early in the morning a few weeks ago to inform him that I wanted to go. So I was soooo excited when I opened that gift. My sister got me a much-needed purse and I got some more clothes for work. I believe I may have mentioned that I loathe shopping, so getting clothes is always an enjoyable occurrence as it means I don't have to go shop for those items!
We then headed over to Michael's family's house and I was in shock the whole time. I never realized how organized (and a bit OCD) my family is about how they do things, because Michael's family does things that just seem like chaos to me! Everyone opened all their presents at the same time, so I was too busy opening mine and trying to focus on Michael's mom's reaction to our gift that I missed his sister's and her husband's reactions to theirs... I felt completely overwhelmed and overly-stimulated. I'm sure I could handle it better next year because I know what to expect, but I was so caught off guard that I couldn't enjoy it. But I did get the pleasure of being drooled all over by my niece since she latched onto my wrist like a leech and wouldn't let go. Thankfully she doesn't have teeth (yet) so there was no biting involved!
Christmas as a whole was enjoyable and made for some great memories and new traditions. I'm sure it'll change slightly again next year, but this time I'll know what I'm in for.
So Merry (belated) Christmas everyone and have a happy and safe new year!