Our Christmas

This year marks only the 2nd time that I haven't been with my family on Christmas Eve. The first time I missed this tradition was the night we got engaged. It goes without saying that Mark had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, he had to work on Christmas Eve. He was home by 6:00, at which time we had a delicious dinner and a very nice evening with his parents; but, I spent much of the day finishing up last minute shopping and running errands. I even did a load of laundry. Like I said, though, once my hubby got home all was right with the world and the night turned out wonderfully. We introduced his parents to "A Christmas Story!" That night we opened our gifts that had arrived in the mail and were humbled by everyone's generosity.

Christmas morning we slept in until almost noon. It was quite nice to not have to be up and about any earlier in the day. We exchanged our gifts to each other - we had already purchased a new 42" HDTV which was our "real" gift to each other but set a $100 limit on little things to open from each other on Christmas morning. Mark, of course, blew the limit - he got me the Wicked soundtrack and tickets to see it again! He had hoped to get tickets for us to see it in L.A. before it leaves but, since it closes next week, he couldn't find any priced within reason so we're planning on seeing it on a long weekend either in San Francisco in March of in Phoenix in July. I actually worked as a stagehand at the theatre where it is playing in Arizona so that'd be fun but it's Phoenix...in July! We'll see. The point is that he is sacrificing yet another evening to take me to a musical that we've already seen, because he knows how happy it makes me.

Later in the evening, we went to see the lights at Griffith Park, near the L.A. Zoo. The Department of Water and Power puts on a show every year and, though the lights are the same every time, we have tried to go every year. We missed last year but this year we were able to take the dog with us on the mile and a half walk through the 40 degree chilliness. People can drive through as well, and we did this the first few years, but it's more fun (and much quicker) to park and walk through it.