Christmas Eve started around 8am. I met up with my Dad to help him keep his age-old tradition of going out in the morning for a few last minute things for my mom. We met at McDonald's at 8 for some McMuffins. Then we went to Kmart (thrilling), another store, and then ended up at the Hallmark Store where I helped my dad pick out some cool nick-knacks for my mom. To reward Mark for letting me go, I picked him up a Egg McMuffin on the way home.
That evening, my local family and I enjoyed our traditional Christmas Eve burger. We used to get McDonald's hamburgers every Christmas Eve when we lived in California. We'd pick up a bunch and bring them to my Grandma's house in Van Nuys (CA). Since we didn't get to eat out much when we were little, it was a real treat. We never did much at Grandma Franzoni's house, but we all have fond memories of just being together and visiting my dad's family. A few of the brother in laws came along. Something about meat and a bun I guess is why they are willing to go out on Christmas Eve for this.
After In N Out, we spent an hour or two watching random Christmas shows and 20/20 specials. We set out some cookies and a letter for Santa and went to bed.
The next morning, I got up and started making cinnamon rolls. Growing up, we always had Pillsbury ones for Christmas morning. But after tasting some delectable homemade ones from our friends, I decided to make them from scratch. The jury is still out of it's worth the wait since we didn't eat until "breakfast" until almost noon. The cream cheese frosting was perfect and the rolls turned out to be pretty amazing if I do say so myself.
So we didn't open our stockings or unwrap gifts until noon. Very odd for Mark, but completely normal in my family. On Christmas day, we had to be up and dressed before we could have breakfast. And with 7 of us, that took quite a while usually until 11). Last year was different for me opening presents in jammies and done with everything by 10am!
After we finished we headed out to my parents' house. It was fun to be with family. I also got to skype with a friend who is in the Peace Corps. I have to say for skyping from Utah to Honduras, the connection wasn't too bad. She spent several holidays with my crazy family so it felt appropriate to skype with her on such an occasion.
After dinner, two of my sisters and I combined forces and built a Christmas rice krispy tree. We had a little leftover so the squares are supposed to be gifts, and the guy in the corner is supposed to be a snowman. (We used a carrot shaving for aesthetic appeal). He kind of has a "wink" going on.
I love my family. It can be overwhelming and useless to get a word in edgewise with so many girls. But I'm grateful my husband was so willing to spend multiple days with them over the Christmas break.
