It is always such a busy time of year over the holidays. In some ways it is nice when all the hustle and bustle is over with and you can just slow down and relax. But, at the same time it's great to get together with friends and family.
We had all of Margarit's family, plus a friend, over to our place for an early Christmas Dinner on December 22nd. There were a dozen people, and it was pretty crowded in our tiny little house. We served turkey and ham with all the trimming, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. In the usual Austrian tradition Margarit decorated our tree with candles rather than electric lights. We lit them briefly and everyone seemed to enjoy the spectacle, and there were no issues. Careful placement of the candles is in order, and we keep a fire extinguisher nearby. The candles are only left burning for 15 minutes or so and then were safely extinguished.
It took most of the next day to clean up and do all the dishes, but later that evening we got together with our friends Arturo and Sharon and had a nice low key visit. Arturo gave me a signed copy of his recently published book and I was quite thrilled to receive that as a Christmas gift.
On Christmas Eve we just hung around home and made some preparations for the big day. Then on Christmas morning we had our own family gift opening. Later that evening we were invited to attend another Christmas Dinner, this time over at Margarit's brother Shawn's place. This was mostly the same crowd that had been at our place a couple of nights prior, but it was nice to get together with them again.
We still need to get together with my side of the family and have an upcoming dinner planned with my brothers and my Mom.
It has been a little challenging to plan everything this year as Hailey is working retail, and this year Anna also started working with her at Roots as a casual employee over the holidays. Of course retail hours always seem to clash with holiday plans but we managed to get everything organized.
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