Our Christmas? Well, it's been unconventional, but excellent.

On Tuesday, my mom and Carter came up, planning to stay till Thursday morning. We ate Chinese food, opened a few gifts, Ryan and Carter played Carter's new Wii Ben 10 game until Ryan couldn't take it anymore. And then the weather warnings started coming in, so Mom decided it would be prudent to leave Wednesday instead. So on Wednesday I made us blueberry pancakes and then we did a little baby shopping before they (wisely) headed out. I was bummed to see them go, though.

Having Wednesday night suddenly to ourselves, Ryan moved up my first Christmas present--a recreation of our first Christmas together. There were two dozen red and white roses, the crystal candlesticks he gave me that year, and he made crab legs and rice. There were a few subtle differences between this meal and the first time he did it. One, I did not get locked in the bedroom while he prepared (I took a shower and was pretty much leaving him to his own devices). Two, he did not make chicken teryaki and french fries. And, three, he was significantly less nervous. ;) And he didn't leave for Fiji the next day.

Since I got a Christmas present early on Wednesday, I decided he should get one, too. So he opened a card game--Monty Python's Fluxx--which we had a good time playing for a while. Then we went to McCormick and Schmick's for their amazing chocolate bag for dessert. On a whim, we headed to Olathe and saw Avatar in 3D, which put us home at 2 am. I had no trouble sleeping that night.

Thursday the weather began in earnest, which caused our friends Ben and Jenny Jo to be unable to join us for Christmas. We lazed around all day, opened our stockings (why not?) and made baked french fries, chicken wings, and chocolate mint cookies. Played some more Fluxx, played some Warcraft, then Ryan decided to online game with some buddies (including the missing Ben) while I moved my roses and candles into the bathroom for a soak in our tiny tub. I really think it was designed by someone who wanted to leave their three year old unattended without worrying about the kid drowning. It is freaking shallow. But I opened the heat vents and that warmed up the room so I was toasty. Before bed we watched Bill Maher's "Religulous" which we both really enjoyed and found very though provoking.

Today we were up really early. Ryan was up at 6 with full blown illness, and I found him on the couch at 8:30. I made us french toast using a brown sugar cinnamon swirl bread and hot chocolate. We opened gifts (I got a necklace and earrings from Swarovsky, and a jasmine candle from Yankee Candle. He got another card game, a leather photo-holding key chain, and a monogramed wallet). Then we took a nap. He is still sleeping. It's nice being home. He is off work till Wednesday, so the next four days should be fun and low key.