On the Feast of Stephen

No, we're not doing a huge feast today... not after these last few days!
My whole family was in shock when I decided not to update on Christmas. Well, it's like Sunday - a holiday, and so no blogging.
But, I do intend to tell you all about them!
On Wednesday, we baked and stuffed ourselves and put the presents under the tree. However, my dad's love of taping everything to survive Pearl Harbour-like incidents caused a lot of alarm amongst the rest of us. (Thank God for the use of knives when opening presents!)
At seven, we went into town because I was playing violin for another church's candlelight service. This year was really very lovely, all the candles made me wish I'd brought my camera. I always conveniently forget them at home whenever there's a really good opportunity for a lovely photo. Some dear friends of mine played together, and I enjoyed all the music and the sermon. Leah came, which was very nice of her, and we talked after the service was over.
When we got home, it was time to open presents. Yes, in our family, we do all of them on Christmas Eve. Aren't we lucky? Anyways, that was a lot of fun, and I took loads of photos. And still haven't gotten them on the computer. Hmmm.... working on that.
But my friends and family are amazing, I was surprised and happy with all my presents. (Okay, none of the books surprised me... Jhaniel hinted that she was getting me The Last Unicorn and Orthodoxy, and I told Llewellyn that I wanted Land of Time and Over the Hills and Far Away. You two are awesome!) Leah's presents amazed me, and I've been wearing the earrings and purse since. It was entertaining to me that for the key chain, she chose two pictures of me (one with her, one with her sister) and both were taken by myself. Yes, I'm easily entertained.
My dad bought me some really lovely Russian things - one a hair barrette (Kat, I bought you one just like it!) and a brooch of the same lacquer style. And Theophilus gave me what I'd bugged him about since before he left for college: a tie-on wrap skirt of old sari material. :)
Leah was amazing (like usual) and gave Theophilus a sketch of him, and then she gave another sketch to my parents that was of all of the family before Theophilus went to college. Yes, with Belle and Tink and Lance and Harrison. It's a cute picture, and the best present she could have given us. (Thanks Leah!!!)

On Christmas Day, I slept in and then decided to wear Theophilus and Leah's presents with a green top that I'd gotten from Mum four years ago for Christmas. All of that was green, so I took the bow ribbon that Leah had used on my parent's present and tied that in my hair, which looked very nice. We spent a good chunk of the morning baking more cookies and then getting the ham ready, before settling down to our computers. I also knitted for a while, and talked on the phone with friends, and wrote for a few hours. (Yes, some productivity!)
Later, we ate dinner and had a good time and after that, we settled down and watched The Muppets' Christmas Carol. Jhaniel, you would have been happy. When we'd finished with that, I went and knitted for a while in bed, while I believe Mum slept and the guys watched Bourne Identity. Oh, for the fun of Christmas!

Today, well, it was a slow day; I wrote, we visited friends, and we've all spent a good deal of time on the computer. Didn't get any more of those packages or cards mailed out, but tomorrow's as good as any. However, I did post a writing-present to my friends on my other blog! So, not a waste in the least.

And I had to have a new background after having the same one for over a month. (I have to change constantly... or I get tired. Like renovating a house, only cheaper and a lot easier, and more fun!)