Christmas re-cap

i had a lovely Christmas and hope you all did too. if you're reading this post, SK, (which you probably will months from now!) it was very cute of you to send me a Christmas e-card where you explain WHY you didn't send me a "real" card. lol. you crack me up.

my Christmas was pretty low-key which i'm thankful for (i can't handle much more hoopla this year). i went home for the holidays - and when i say that what i mean is i packed a small bag and drove over to my Mom & Dad's which took all of maybe 30 minutes. (^-^)

Christmas dinner was rather unusual this year as we didn't have our usual Honeybaked ham (believe me, this ham is a big deal with my parents - they never buy any other kind of ham and they only get it for Christmas) - rather, we had plates and plates full of baby back ribs straight from some BBQ place in Missouri! one of my Dad's friends sent him a gigantic shipment of ribs as his holiday gift so Mom decided it was ribs for the holidays - she didn't want Dad keeping all those slabs of ribs for himself (which he probably would've done).

for side dishes, we had mac & cheese, roasted potatoes, mixed veggies, and Stove Top stuffing (courtesy of the one sister who doesn't cook - at all). dinner was very delicious - those ribs were spectacular! for dessert, my Dad opted for a slice of fruitcake (he's the only one that likes fruitcake in our house and he will continue to be the only one!) while everyone else ate awesome truffles one of my sisters brought.

we did a gift exchange after dinner and i admit i was pretty much passed out on the living room floor because i had stuffed my face with food. my sisters and i are all grown-up now so for the last several years, my parents just hand us gift cards. and between us sisters, we try to keep things practical and inexpensive - i think when we were younger, we used to go all out but these days what with mortgages, car payments, "real life" - we keep gift-giving to a minimum. some of my friends now do the same for their parents but it's not something i've been able to do - i guess i just like the idea of giving actual gifts - i like the thought and time put into it. i don't mind at all if i receive gifts cards (i like them!) but i personally like giving gifts (unless i know for sure that person wants a gift card then i'll totally do it).

this year, i bought Dad a couple of jars of fancy almonds and renewed his subscription to Wine Spectator. for Mom, i bought her a set of various Kiehl's lotions. anyway, i like all the presents i got this year (i like them every year!) but this year's favorite is from one of my younger sisters. she and i share a special bond of loving manga & anime (whereas my other sister and i share that special bond of baseball) - and so she gave me a deck of Sailor Moon playing cards from Japan. yep, Sailor Moon. awesome.