www.Christmas2012.com

First of call can you believe 2013 is right around the corner? When I was at the movies yesterday (Christmas Day), they advertised for movies coming out January or March 2013, I felt like that was still a year away.... nope!

How was your Christmas??

Christmas, since being married has often been hard for me. It's really weird to all of the sudden have totally different plans for a day that was the same every year for 22 years. To all of the sudden have to merge my Christmas Day traditions with another, knowing he also was having to change/merge his Christmas Day traditions with mine.

I don't know if I've just been married long enough or if the fact that neither of us were getting our normal Christmas Day traditions this year, but never once did I feel sad that I wasn't at home. I planned out a full day so that there wasn't down time to just be wishing I was at home. It also might have helped that we both got to see our families only a week before, and then got to spend Christmas together. It also might have been that this year we got to start our own traditions and not sneak a moment out of the day to open our gifts for each other just the 2 of us.

We still spent time with each family throughout the day, although I didn't see my brother via skype, but I'm pretty sure we said Marry Christmas over the speaker phone.

Here's how our actual Christmas went down:

Christmas EveNick made breakfast again for us (He made omelets a few days ago), making hashbrowns from scratch both times!

Round #1 - made while I was still in bed on Saturday! Green peppers and onions for him...

Ham and mushrooms for me!

Round #2 he put the green peppers and onions in his hashbrowns!

Round #2

Round #2 - Mine - cheesy hashbrowns!

I made dough for cinnamon buns for Christmas day in the morning, while attempting to keep Nick from opening presents. At 2pm I headed to the church to set up for the choir fellowship that was to feed choir/band/sound members between the 3pm practice and the 5pm Christmas Eve Candle Lighting service. I was in charge! I took my pretty wreath and my 3 pretty green candles that look like Christmas Trees with some fake snow as a centerpiece. I also brought my 2 cake platters to raise up the meat and cheese trays so they are were at a different level than all the other goodies!

The service was beautiful! We opened with a jazzy version of Joy To the World, then into Angels from the Realms of Glory with a cool ending! We had a saxophone player (who also played clarinet and flute when appropriate) to jazz up all these songs. Then 2 little kids (8 & 10 years old) told the Christmas Story. There was a duet, The Night Before Christmas by Chris and Suzie; beautiful song & beautifully done. There was an ensemble put together from the best of our choir who sang the A Capella: First Noel, also with a really neat ending. The Christmas Devotion was brought by Todd our teaching pastor and he told a story of a church in NY who cast a teenage boy with Downs Syndrome to play the Inn Keeper. His only line was "There is no room at the Inn". After delivering his line to an audience waiting patiently for his line, he called Mary and Joseph back and told them, they could stay at his house! The message was "Is there room in your life for Jesus?" It was short sweet, and well done! We finished by singing a beautiful version of the Latin, Pie Jesu. I can't find the version anywhere online so when it is up on the Church Website I will link it... it will be here. Jenny sings the solo and she's fabulous! She sings for the Denver Symphony Orchestra! From there we went into Silent Night, 1 verse played by just a saxophone while the choir left the stage and walked down into the aisles, finished by 3 verses as people lit their candles. It was beautiful!!

The rest of Christmas Eve was kindof a flop (failed plans, failed food etc.), until right before we went to bed and we read my childhood book of The Night Before Christmas and I put out cookies and milk for Santa. We were in bed and asleep before midnight.

Christmas morning we awoke at 7am to a White Christmas and Skype with the other 4 Everetts which was 9am their time.

We opened our presents together, of which we got way too many!

Before

After

We were over spoiled! We spent about an hour or so with them via skype and then continued to open the rest of our presents. Nick had some to open from my parents, and then we had the gifts we had bought each other. Nick bought me a new ottoman that has the lid that flips over and becomes a flat coffee table, as well as 2 smaller ottomans that fit inside. I'm excited to store either blankets or games in there! He also got me new boots, West Side Story on DVD/blue-ray/all kinds of sweet extra's. I got him some new thermal long underwear, a long-sleeved comfortable/running shirt, Dexter and Philosophy a book for his Kindly, and the board game Puerto Rico!

He went for a run in his new running gear in the snow and I worked on the cinnamon buns.

I love running - I hate running - I love running - I hate running
(Mine says "I run like a girl")

I had to go out into the white Christmas in my new boots!

We got all ready and headed over to Rebecca and Mariah's! Rebecca's parents were there (whom we know from choir) as well has Mariah's 2 older brothers who live on their own. Rebecca's estranged brother and his family also came and it totally wasn't awkward! We had a wonderful brunch together, with the most people than she had ever had in her town home. It was exciting to watch Mariah read clue's written by her older brothers to find her big Christmas Present!

Nick and I left at 2:15ish to go save seats for the 6 of us (Rebecca, Mariah and Grandma and Grandpa) to watch LES MISERABLES!!!  After 2 years or more of waiting for this movie, I finally saw it: Opening Day!!

I've never before gone to the movies on Christmas Day, but if I was ever to do it, this was the movie to go see! When I was picking up my pre-bought tickets, there was a lady attempting to buy tickets, she said she 'wanted to see, oh what's the move (as she uses her finger to scroll down the list of movies playing).... Less Miss - ur ... Less Miser - well that movie!' I wanted to tell her to go home and come back on a different day! Lol!

Sitting in the theatre, kicking the seat in front of me I was sooo excited. The lady in front of me understood so it was ok that I kept kicking her.

These are our tickets (which I bought as soon as they were available on Fandango)

Cheryl texted me more than 2 years ago that she found out they were making this movie. Immediately IMDB/LesMiserables became a website I checked regularly! I followed as they chose who was playing Jean valJean, and the debate over who was going to be Cosette etc. They day they set December 14th as opening day, it was set in my calendar on my phone for more than a year in advance!

I know this story and music inside and out and LOVE It too much so I was very critical (not negatively) through my whole first viewing. The only Actress I wasn't sure about was Amanda Seyfried, but she was incredible! She nailed the high notes and I actually preferred her voice to some of the other Cosette's that have a hard operatic tone. I really enjoyed Russell Crowe's performance. Going in I reminded myself these people were professional actors not singers (for the most part) and Hugh Grant was NOT Colm Wilkinson; what he lacked in singing ability he made up for in emotion in his acting. I was never disappointed by his singing though. I loved hearing the sniffles around the theater, but I was smiling at each sad scene with joy of how well it was done!  I could go on and on but for the sake of those who haven't seen it yet, I will not! As soon as you do see it though, I would love to discuss it with you.

The 4 tag-a-longs I brought with me to the movies, aren't nearly as in love with the musical as I am, so they and were very emotional and totally caught up in the movie. Tears were a-flowing, hands were held when the inevitable deaths were about to happen. I am sooo grateful that Nick knows the movie well enough that we could have a level discussion about every aspect afterwards and agree on most things.

We rushed home to make dinner (and call my parents to tell them all about Les Mis) for the 2 seminary boys who live in our apartment complex, but they never came over, so we just hung out together with a Christmas fire in the fireplace! Yeah!

It was a wonderful Christmas!