Christmas: The Stages of Presents

Christmas Eve.

I went to work that morning. They were only open until 2pm. I was manning the phone. And Tito was manning the walk up sales. It was pretty slow. But it was nice. I got to get away from the holiday decorating and gift wrapping at our house. Plus I had been sick the previous week so I had not been to work for a whole week.

Chad and Amber and the kids were at our house when I got home. They had just barely gotten there. Shortly after that Eric and Carly arrived. They came over for our Christmas Eve dinner. We had the Higgins traditional spread of yummy goodness. Chicken Cordon Bleu. Cheesy Broccoli, Potatoes, and Cauliflower. Jello, we had it with whipped cream this year. Shrimp and cocktail sauce. We had both the cold normal kind and hot, popcorn shrimp kind. I like popcorn shrimp. And sparkling apple cider to drink. For dessert this year we had chocolate cake with fudge frosting and strawberries. That was really yummy.

We opened our Christmas Eve presents after doing the dishes. We of course got matching pajamas. I think I’ll only wear the bottoms. The top, also same as the bottoms, is way too big for me. I just wore a white t-shirt that I had in my pj drawer instead, which is probably what I will do from now on. The bottoms are super comfy. Mom buys men's pjs.

The whole Higgins clan. Each family had their own matching pjs.

Steven, Myself, and Brian

One of our Christmas Eve traditions also includes opening a new movie that we watch. We watched ‘Despicable Me 2’. It was cute but I think I still like the first movie better.


Christmas day was fun this year.

Everyone came into my room and woke me up. It was 9:30am and I was the only one still sleeping. I was sort of waking at that point so it was okay. We went upstairs and ate breakfast. We had cinnamon rolls and an egg casserole. After we did the dishes a bit we opened our “stocking” presents and the other presents from Mom and Dad (and Santa).

I got a pretty fashion scarf, a cream colored sweater, and some jeans. I also opened my gift to myself. I bought a 1000-piece puzzle of the TARDIS exploding that Van Gogh paints in Doctor Who. I really like it. I bought a while ago. Our stocking bags had the normal stuff like candy, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and other goodies. We got granola bars, popcorn, gum balls (that have a maze), fruit snacks, and of course socks. My socks are a pack of six. They are bright colors. I really like the lime green ones. lol. We also got a lint roller, and tiny Goo Gone bottles, Burt’s Bees lip balm, tiny Bag Balm containers, tiny Gold Bond lotions, and a thermos mug cup container. (I traded my red one with Steven’s green one.) I also got some tiny lip gloss, four O.P.I. nail polish colors, and some nail art glitter stuff. And I got some headphones. They look like nice ones. They are in-ear headphones that actually go in your ear. My headphones are made for women so they are the smaller versions. Also they are a cool purple and white color.

Jeans, Sweater, and Scarf

My Doctor Who 1000-piece puzzle

Junk food goodies

Other "stocking" stuff

New headphones

O.P.I. nail polish

Steven and Brian and Dad got these 3D paper puzzle planes. They look really fun and were interesting to put together. I wanted one. Maybe not a plane, but a dinosaur or one of the other kinds they had. Mom actually went to that store they got them from and got me two dinosaurs. (She was there exchanging some things.) They are so cute.

The two dinos Mom bought for me

The whole dino collection

We had a few more presents to open from Mom and Dad and siblings. Chad and family came over about 3pm. Eric and Carly didn’t get there until about 4pm. We opened more presents and it was fun. Cayden was quite excited about every present and wanted to open them all. He had a hard time waiting and watching other people open their gifts. lol. I got a few more things. Mom (and Dad) gave me a $30 Barnes and Noble gift card. We all got some sort of fleece blanket. Mine is pretty. It’s striped with bright colors. Carly, Amber, and I got leggings. They were in the same box and we got to choose which ones we got. Each of us got solid black ones and a pattern one. The pattern ones were all different. Mom got the two that we didn’t pick.

Fleece blanket

Leggings

I gave gifts to Brian this year. I got him The Piano Guys’ CDs (both one and two) and a giant jawbreaker. I found out that he already has the first CD so I’ll keep that one and I bought him an Owl City CD that he wanted instead. (In that same order Brian bought another CD. He paid me for that one. I also bought a DVD on the same order. All from Barnes and Noble. I love that place so much.) I wrapped his presents in Spongebob Christmas wrapping paper that I found at the dollar store. It was awesome.

Chad and Amber were giving to me this year. They gave me Inheritance by Christopher Paolini. I have the first three books and I needed the last, fourth book. They also gave me an Imagine Dragons CD that I wanted. It’s called ‘Night Visions’ and it’s really good. Chad also gave me a Mountain Dew. Its old school designed bottle is nifty.

When I was ordering Brian's re-gift I ordered Doctor Who season 7 on DVD. I used that Barnes and Noble gift card from Mom and Dad. I had to pay a couple of dollars because the gift card wasn’t enough to buy all of it. And I still need to purchase the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special. But it airs after season 7 so I’m not worrying about right now. I’ll keep an eye on it and buy it later.

And that was my Christmas Eve and Day. It was a lot of fun. Let's do it again next year. :)