FRIDAY - Christmas Day

I got up at 07:09AM feeling well rested and fantastic and Happy :-) I drank some water and then some tea and edited some more Japan trip photos. By 08:00AM everybody was up except Jackie. So I practiced my "5 Tibetans", then we opened our gifts. The kids were thrilled with their gifts. Well, except for when Sophia saw Jackie's sheep pajamas; then she felt intensely annoyed! Marc gave me a large format lens that I really wanted, so I felt very happy. The rest of my gifts were great as well. Marc loved the heated gloves that I gave him (sadly it later turned out that they were not quite warm enough). Likewise, Jackie and Steve were pleased with their gifts. After opening all of the gifts, the kids split to play Nintendo.

Dan standing before the DOCTOR WHO Weeping Angel cardboard cutout, while Sophia holds a gift in her hands before the Christmas tree, in the piano room on Christmas morning.	Sophia hugging 1 of her stuffed doll gifts in the piano room on Christmas morning.	Marc holding 1 of his gifts, while Steve helps Jackie put on a necklace in the piano room.

I helped Steve break down the cardboard boxes for recycling, while Jackie returned to cooking our Christmas meal. Afterwards, I practiced some more Yoga and showered. Then our Christmas meal was ready!

Jackie prepared a fantastic Christmas Dinner. She made some Shrimp and Crawfish Étouffée (my favorite!) as well as a Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. Also, some salad and broccolini and buttered bread. Steve served the best Champagne ever, along with an amazing Australian Shiraz (red wine). For dessert we had DEAN & DELUCA cupcakes courtesy of the Nelson Family (delicious!), cookies, SEE'S CANDY courtesy of Uncle Bill Maddux and Lynne, an amazing Peanut Butter Brittle (yes, I was bad on Christmas Day!), and Jackie's Pecan Pralines. Marc bought a Pecan Pie from ZUPAN'S to complete the array of desserts. We definitely feasted this year!

After clearing the dining table, Jackie went for a bike ride to burn off some calories. Marc went for a walk, while the rest of us laid around the house and vegetated. I felt too inebriated to do anything for a couple of hours. After an hour or so, Steve drove to pick up Marc and Jackie at the legendary POWELL'S BOOKSTORE.

Later that evening we visited with the parents of the kids' friend Ursula, Nina and Dan, and Dan's brother Andy. The kids played with Ursula while we visited. After Nina and Dan and Ursula and Andy left, we played a card game called PIG until around 09:00PM (the kids' bedtime). After the kids went to bed, we adults played CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY until around 11:00PM. Then Jackie and I went to bed, while Marc and Steve stayed up and visited some more. And such was our Christmas for 2015.