Beer & Champagne: Oh What A Night....

Christmas night that is. For years now our family has celebrated Christmas on Christmas night....just about the last possible time you can squeeze in one more Christmas with it still technically being December 25th. It really used to bug me a little as this change from Christmas morning was due to my brothers getting married/having kids of their own....and then thinking they needed to celebrate Christmas/Santa gifts when their kids woke up....talk about selfish, huh?? :) Anyhow, when I got over that little hurdle and learned to share my family, Christmas night has actually become one of my favorite nights of the year, this past year included (yes I'm so behind I had to say past year as we are already in 2012). With that said, Christmas Day is also very nice as it is usually spent with my Mom and the Gehrk doing last minute preparations. I mean not only does Santa go to my niece and nephews homes, he also comes to Grandma and Poppa's. Yes, these children are unbelievably well behaved and not at all spoiled. HA...I hope you are all sensing my sarcasm as not one person leaves my parents home in need of one thing...just wait, you'll see!!
So Christmas Day was very nice. We went to church, delivered poinsettias to the "shut-ins" (members of our church who can't get out for one reason or another), had brunch, and once again fretted over when/how to cook the prime rib....as if the last 10 years have been big failures. If you're unfamiliar, every year mom is quoted saying, "I think that's the best one yet!"(perhaps it's because we only have it once a year, but who knows!?!) And somehow I managed to sneak in a little nap time with Ruby, the brand new puppy!! Funny how that works out? The day was great and by the time 4 o'clock rolled around we were ready for action and boy did action show up. Both brothers and their families trickled in right behind each other and the night was off. We kicked off the night by singing Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus, and then we immediately headed down to the basement so the kids could open gifts. I tell ya, I don't have any kids of my own but watching them get so excited over the silliest things makes my heart melt. They all really are wonderful kids and they definitely bring back the excitement of Christmas when it comes to gift opening. After all the excitement it was time for a break, which basically means we were licking our chops after smelling the prime rib cooking for nearly 2 hours! Dinner was phenomenal, per usual, and in the midst of our food coma it was time for adult present opening. Gotta say, not nearly as exciting, but still very fun. All the girls left with a few new duds and some home accessories and the boys left with a few new duds as well and some essential electronics if my memory serves me right. The universal gift was the book "The Sacred Acre," the story about Ed Thomas's life. I just finished it today and thought it was quite a tribute so someone who made a lot of difference to many young kids. It also had many life lessons to put to use! Good idea momma!! Once the present chaos was over the fun had really just begun. The minute Cade arrived he was determined to play everyone in ping pong, which lead to he and I scheming a family ping pong tournament. I mean why not, considering we are all terribly competitive and think we could beat anyone on any given night. We had so much fun and even set up stadium like seating in the garage so we were sure not to miss one minute of the action. To no surprise the Gehrk ended up winning, but Dan did not go down without a fight. I'm pretty sure it went into triple overtime....the way a championship game should end, right? HA :) All in all I would say Christmas was perfectly done. Such a good time with many more memories made....Oh what a night it was!!
Sidenote: AK and I separated for the Christmas holiday which was unfortunate, but neither one of us was ready to give up our respective families. From the sounds of it, the Kay Christmas was just as spectacular with fabulous food and many fun memories as well!!
Another sidenote: I was having too much fun to capture each Christmas moment....here are my favs!!