How adorable is that little Santa Scottie Dog? He plays music too, which Brodie did not like at all.

I finally took my Christmas decorations down this weekend. I put on Elf, lit my evergreen candle, and soaked in my last bit of Christmas for the year. It actually made taking down the decorations a wee bit more enjoyable. Instead of work it felt like a part of Christmas. So I think this may have to become a tradition in order to make packing up Christmas more of a celebration than a chore.

Last year I started a new tradition as well. One that I almost completely forgot about this year. I wrote a Christmas letter. One that I printed and included in a Christmas album with pages of pictures from that year’s Christmas. This year the amount of pictures is not as great, but nevertheless I will not abandon a tradition only one year in the making.

January 13, 2009

This year Christmas began shortly after Thanksgiving, when I brought out all our decorations that had been packed away last year. They were all familiar. A start of tradition. Our second Christmas as a married couple was much more low key than the previous year. Schedules for the holidays had already been tested out in the prior year, so we were seasoned professionals this time around.

We stayed in Sunol for Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner with just one part of my in-laws. The boys played more Wii games than I knew existed. Just watching them was exhausting, but it was a really wonderful evening with good dinner, drink, and of course dessert.

We woke up fairly early that next morning after having thunderstorms and a downpour of rain interrupt our sleep intermittently throughout the night. Cale and I went and had our own Christmas with just the two of us. We opened the stockings we had stuffed for each other and opened our gifts. I bought Cale Volume One of James Bond movies on Blu-Ray. Since our original Christmas present to each other was the PlayStation 3 we bought back in October, we decided that buying each other blu-ray movies was only appropriate. Cale got me Veganomicon, an awesome Vegan cookbook, and Knocked Up.

Following our little gift exchange between the two of us, we headed over with our gifts to Cale’s mom’s. There we were greeted with many more presents, more stockings, and more candy. As we opened the gifts inside, the dogs decided to be mischievous outside. They got out and explored Sunol on their own. Of course my heart about stopped when I realized they were missing, but the whole family surveyed the area, and in the end a sweet Indian family took Cale into their car to take him to the dogs. By the end of the half hour long search, I was exhausted and the dogs were grounded to our house where they could not escape. We refueled with pancakes and eggs cooked by Cale’s brother and his friend.

That afternoon and into the evening, we visited with more in-laws, had more food, drink, and dessert. It was a very warm and pleasant Christmas that ended with my husband and I watching Knocked Up and fighting off sleep after such a long day.

The second half of our Christmas actually took place on New Year’s Eve. We packed up the dogs, the remaining presents, and drove to Bakersfield. Once we got there, my mom and I headed to the store to stock up on dinner goodies and drinks. My dad made dinner, and once my sister got home we had our second Christmas with my parents. Cale got even more James Bond blu-ray movies, and I got all Sex and the City seasons. We are fully ready to get some serious use out of our new television. After opening presents, we welcomed the new year by breaking in my brother’s new Rockband 2 with my family’s band “Rain and the Proders.” Caitlyn and I switched off singing, Cale played bass, Brent played guitar, and Cait’s boyfriend Thomas played drums. We were really good. But it was so fun and brought many late nights for the rest of our stay in Bakersfield, as we always had to do just “one more song.”

And that was our Christmas in 2008. Really nothing more could be wished for. Quality time with family, great food, and giving and receiving gifts that are really just what the person wished for. Nothing too extravagant but just.. perfect.