An Early Christmas

Everyone's gifts were finally under the tree (except the ones from Jacob

in Mesa) right before we started opening them on Sunday night.

December 23, 2018

Ordinarily, we're able to enjoy our family Christmas dinner and gift exchange on the actual date of Christmas. It's the one day of the year that Walmart closes, allowing Sarah and Dylan to have the same day off. Sarah and Chris always do their traditional Christmas with Chris's family on Christmas Eve, and Chris's place of business also closes on Christmas Day. Mark works during the morning and early afternoon of pretty much all holidays (that's Denny's for you), but has the whole late afternoon and evening free. The same had always been true for Jake, as well, allowing us to celebrate together later in the day, but with Jake's recent promotion to front desk supervisor at the resort, he ended up working on the evening of Christmas Day. Between his and Mark's schedules, it would have allowed for only an hour or so of family togetherness, food, and gifts.

That just doesn't work for me.

Later on, only Jacob's gifts await. We'll take them to him after New Year's,

then open our gifts from Jacob in Mesa and bring back his siblings' gifts.

As for Jacob, we'd hoped he'd be able to drive up and join us on Christmas Day, now that he lives in Mesa. Unfortunately, his work schedule had him on the job both Saturday and Monday. He was off on Sunday and Tuesday (Christmas Day), but doing a one-day trip on either day at this time of year can be tricky at this elevation. Inevitably, with such a short trip, you end up traveling during darkness one way or the other, when there's a risk that any trickle of water onto the highway might have frozen into a deadly sheet of black ice. I worry when my kids travel far distances after dark this time of year.

We decided Mark and I would take his gifts to him the day after Christmas, making it a two-day trip so we could travel during the warmth of daylight both days. Our plans changed when a snowstorm moved into the area on the night of Christmas Day, and it hung around for three days. Unsafe road conditions were predicted, so it wasn't worth the risk. Instead, we now plan to drive down the day after New Year's. So far, the weatherman is predicting another snowstorm (up to nine inches of snow!) for tomorrow and into Tuesday, but sunny skies for the two days we plan to travel, Wednesday and Thursday. Fingers crossed!

The turkey came out perfectly. Love my roasting pan!

In the end, we decided to do our Christmas two days early, as part of our weekly Sunday family dinner. That's the one evening of the week we're most likely able to gather. Mark, Dylan, and Jake work the morning and afternoon on most Sundays but, with rare exceptions, we all have the evening free.

We were all gathered together before 5:30 that day (except Jacob,  of course), which is a small feat in itself. By the time Dylan arrived after work, the turkey was done, and Sarah, Chris, and Jake had worked together to finish the mashed potatoes. I'd baked a pan of thick, gooey brownies earlier that morning to enjoy for dessert. All we needed to do was saute the buttery corn, make the gravy (Sarah excels at gravy), prepare the stuffing (Jake took on that task), and bake the dinner rolls that had been rising all afternoon. Mark carved the turkey while the rest of us finished up and set out the food and dishes.

Mark starts carving the turkey while Sarah works on the gravy.

Christmas dinner was a smaller version of our Thanksgiving dinner, with a 14-lb turkey (provided by Dylan and Jake) instead of 24 lbs, and minus the green bean casserole and pies. That meant less mess and fewer leftovers, which was okay by me. It was a delicious meal, prepared by many loving hands, which I greatly appreciated!

It's always a disaster area after all the Christmas presents are opened!

Then, after dinner, it was time for the fun of discovering what was hidden in all the brightly colored packages, boxes and bags, over the past few weeks. As always, when we were done, we each gathered our gifts and set them out for Mom's camera. It's fun to look back and see what gifts we received, and from whom, on any given Christmas.

Sarah with her gaggle of gift packages.

Note: Sarah and Chris opted to exchange their own presents to each other on Christmas morning in their own home, so those gifts are not included here.

Sarah poses with all her new presents.

To Sarah, from Dylan and Jake: A decorative box holding Harry Potter artifacts (see photo below for details).

From Mark: A box of premium chocolates and a Walmart gift card.

From me: A small ceramic violin figure for her curio cabinet; a fully-illustrated re-release of the original Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; a "chocolate" frog (from Harry Potter) in a decorative case, including a collectible Wizards Trading Card of Albus Dumbledore; a tall five-shelf bookcase for Sarah's new doll collection (left to her by her great-grandma Helen Carter); and two boxes of Atkins protein bars (for Sarah's New Year resolution).

Closeup of Sarah's tiny, new, ceramic violin.

Closeup of contents of the Harry Potter artifact box.

Cool items in the Harry Potter artifact box include:

1) Harry's acceptance letter to Hogwarts, in the envelope addressed to "The cupboard under the stairs"

2) Scroll signed by all members of Dumbledore's Army

3) Lenticular (3-D) photo of members of Order of the Phoenix, including Harry's parents Lily and James, with mum Lily clearly pregnant with Harry

4) Lily Potter's letter to Sirius Black, written just after Harry's first birthday and about two months before Lily and James were murdered by Voldemort

5) Sirius Black's Wanted Poster

6) Ticket to the World Cup Quidditch game in Ireland

7) Luggage tag for traveling on the Hogwarts Express (made of metal, very solid!)

Closeup of the "chocolate" frog. It's actually stick-to-the-wall rubbery.

The chocolate frog and its case, plus the included wizard trading card.

Amazing 3-D. Dumbledore seems to actually turn to watch as you walk past.

Chris with his heap of presents.

Chris with this year's haul.

To Chris, from Dylan and Jake: A Pokemon Ultra-Moon role-playing video game.

From Mark: A Virtual Reality headset, plus a variety package of Reese's peanut butter cups.

From me: "The One Ring" from The Lord of the Rings; a metal display case for The One Ring; a Star Wars tee-shirt; a Hickory Farms sausage-cheese-and-cracker sampler; and three pairs of socks featuring sharks, dogs, and cats.

Closeup of "The One Ring" from Lord of the Rings.

It's a gorgeous replica of the movie prop.

"One Ring to rule them all,

One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all 

And in the darkness bind them."

Closeup of "The One Ring" in its impressive display case.

Looking at the kinds of gifts we give each other, I guess it's pretty obvious that we're a family of fantasy and science fiction nerds. We're particularly fond of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, anything Star Wars and Star Trek, and everything Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. For the guys, we must include Pokemon. For Dylan and me, add on the Zelda video games. Plus, I adore the beautiful film Avatar. I can't wait for the movie sequels!

Dylan with his stack of stuff.

Note: While Sarah and Chris decided to wait and open their personal gifts to each other on Christmas morning in their own home, Jake and Dylan decided to go ahead and open their presents to each other while we were all together at this family gathering. I'm pretty sure it was because they suspected they'd be getting an electronic game or two that neither could wait two more days to play!

Dylan with his Christmas presents.

To Dylan, from Jake: A box of eight Pokemon Gym Badges; a mug bearing the crest of Hyrule, the kingdom in Zelda; and a Hyrule crest tee-shirt. Jake also plans to get Dylan a Lift Ticket so he can go snowboarding at nearby Sunrise Ski Resort this season, once Dylan settles on a date to go.

From Sarah and Chris: A large Hershey's chocolate bar and a Walmart gift card.

From Mark: A box of Rice Krispy Treats and a Walmart gift card.

From me: The new Super Smash Brothers Ultimate video game; a retro Gameboy-style cell phone case, actually loaded with working games like Tetris and Frogger; a collection of Zelda pins; a Star Wars "I'll Be Home for Sithmas" tee-shirt; and five pairs of Zelda socks (which he's been rocking at Walmart, making his co-workers jealous).

The Pokemon League Badges, also known as Gym Badges, must be

earned in order to participate in certain levels of play for Pokemon Go.

Dylan earned them all long ago; these are merely physical representations.

These Zelda pins are based on items in the video games.

Jake with his load of laden boxes and bags.

Jake with his Christmas goodies.

To Jake, from Dylan: A Star Wars mug featuring Han and Chewie in the Millennium Falcon, which changes when hot liquid is added; a Funko Pop figure of Dominus Ghaul, a character from the Destiny 2 video game; Star Wars seat covers for Jake's Kia Soul; and a glass Chess set.

From Dylan, Sarah, and Chris: A Jedi Challenge AR headset and lightsaber experience set.

From Sarah and Chris: A large Hershey's chocolate bar.

From Mark: A box of Russell Stover candies and a Walmart gift card.

From me: The Han Solo Card Game, based on the gambling game of Sabacc in the Star Wars films; a replica of Han Solo's chance cubes, used in a version of Sabacc called "Corellian Spike," which hang in the Millennium Falcon's cockpit; a set of Dwarven coin replicas from The Hobbit films; a Star Wars "I'll Be Home for Sithmas" tee-shirt (to match Dylan's); and five pairs of Harry Potter socks.

Replicas of the Dwarven coin props from The Hobbit films.

Real struck-metal, very heavy in the hand.

When the mug is filled with hot liquid, the star field outside the cockpit of

the Millennium Falcon is replaced by the elongated streaks of hyperspace.

Jake's eyes popped when he saw the lightsaber in his Jedi Challenge AR set. 

I hadn't even heard of the Jedi Challenge AR headset and lightsaber experience until Jake opened that gift from Sarah, Chris, and Dylan (who pooled their money for it). We all got to try it out a few days later, and it was amazing fun. And quite a workout...but more on that in a later post. It was reminiscent of the Star Wars VR experience we did at the VOID in Las Vegas, which was so incredibly awesome.

I know what VR is (virtual reality), but I had to look up AR. It stands for augmented reality. In essence, VR creates an entire world around you, erasing the reality, whereas AR allows you to see the real world through the visor (such as your living room or wherever you're playing) and simply brings into your world the people or things you'll be interacting with. In this case, opponents with whom you spar as you develop your lightsaber skills.

Mark with his pile of presents.

Mark's gifts.

To Mark, from Sarah and Chris: a Walmart gift card and a large Hershey's chocolate bar.

From Dylan and Jake: a two-DVD set of Super Troopers (two films I find painfully goofy, but Mark finds totally hilarious); and a yard-long box of Mark's favorite candy, Snickers.

From me: a small television for Mark's room (he's been wanting his own TV pretty much since he moved in three and a half years ago); a Roku stick for the TV; an electric knife sharpener (he gets frustrated trying to sharpen our knives with a file); a Deadpool tee-shirt (another goofy character who makes him guffaw); and five pairs of socks featuring Call of Duty skulls and such.

The gifts I received from my very generous family.

From Sarah and Chris: a lovely new Willow Tree figurine for my collection, which I adore, this one called "Journey." And a big Hershey bar!

From Dylan and Jake: Seraphina Piquery's wand from the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them; a "Family Is Life's Greatest Blessing" frame holding my new favorite photo of me with all three of my children; an artist's kit containing paints and pastels and sketch pencils; and a Harry Potter sorting hat ornament.

[Note: a few years back, Dylan was deeply struck by the realization that everyone else had a large-ish stack of presents on Christmas morning, whereas Mom rarely had more than two or three to open. I've always been fine with that, since my pleasure comes from watching my children's faces light up at each package they open. Since then, though, Dylan has always made sure to provide me with enough gifts to have a stack of my own. It's not necessary, of course, but I love his thoughtfulness. I love that all my kids have such generous hearts.]

From Mark: a gift card for our local WME theater (I love going to see movies, especially science fiction and fantasy!); a pair of cute earrings with green stones; and an M&Ms mug filled with mini-bags of M&Ms, my favorite candies.

My family definitely knows what I like!

The beautiful Willow Tree figurine called "Journey."

A closeup of Seraphina Piquery's wand. I think it's the most beautiful wand

in all of Harry Potter's wizarding world. Piquery was Madame President of

the Magical Congress, the American version of  Britain's Ministry of Magic.

The frame that Dylan and Jake gave me really says it all. In fact, Jake said they'd originally chosen a different frame, but when they saw this one they knew it was "The One." He told me, "The frame says exactly what you always say about family." It's the truth. My life is rich in blessings, but none greater than the gift of family. And Christmas is the perfect time to remember how blessed we are to have each other!

I love this frame and I love the people in the frame!