YukiMerry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! It’s already time for me to write a New Year’s post, huh? >_< Didn’t I just do that a few months ago? (Lol) But first, let’s talk about how Christmas went this year! (Click “Read More” to see the entire post, and what I got for Christmas. This post is rather image-heavy!)
Christmas events really do last the whole month of December, and this year was no exception. It started for us with the Candlelight Tour of Homes on December 7th, hosted by the Oaklands Historic House Museum in Murfreesboro. This was our third year going, and I have to say, we saw some absolutely beautiful homes, most of which had not been a part of the tour before. We also received a free set of three historical books about the area from the Ransom School House Museum, which was the last stop listed–an amazing gift considering the price of each book alone.
The picture above is the only picture I took inside one of the houses–it’s of someone’s tree that I really liked.
The second event we went to was on December 22nd, the Sunday before Christmas. It was called “A Christmas Experience” and was put on by our church and its West campus! We volunteered and got to enjoy it for ourselves as well–it was really fun! There was a live nativity, real animals that you could pet and take pictures with in between performances, cookies and wassail, pictures with Santa, a bounce house area for the kids, and a “Polar Express” train.
(I only ended up taking pictures of the animals…lol) They were soooo cute! There was also a baby teacup pig in the farthest cage, and in another area there were some really interesting breeds of cows and an antelope!
There were sheep too, of course! Their wool was so thick; my mom and I were amazed~ Also, there was a sleigh pulled by motorcycles. 😛
Next was, of course, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! I spent the remaining days before Christmas translating and working on drawings that would be Christmas presents:
+ Christmas Gift for Michael 2013 -> http://fireaangel.deviantart.com/art/Christmas-Gift-for-Michael-2013-422129919
+ Christmas Gift for my Brother 2013 -> http://fireaangel.deviantart.com/art/Christmas-Gift-for-my-Brother-2013-422125752
+ Process -> http://suishouyuki.tumblr.com/post/71342473553/process-shots-of-this-picture-i-made-for-my
Christmas morning we got up and started making the “breakfast” that we would take to my dad’s brother’s house for Christmas Brunch. (We make our own because we don’t do dairy, gluten, etc.) My mom made most of it because I was in my room uploading Christmas pictures and transferring other photos from my phone, but I did help a little towards the end of the process. We made an egg and salmon casserole with mushrooms, onions, and capers, gluten-free biscuits and gravy, chocolate drop cookies, and a to-go bag of baby spinach. We also had frozen blueberries over sliced kiwi, which turned out amazing because the blueberries thawed and the kiwi slices soaked up the juice. Delicious!
The only thing I ate at the brunch besides our stuff was several helpings of the amazing fruit bowl and a slice each of chocolate chip pumpkin bread and banana bread (really the only guilty thing I ate that day).
After playing ping pong and a bit of the board game “Logos” (which was very interesting and I definitely learned some things), we left to go meet my ex-stepdad to pick up my brother! And once we got home, we opened presents!!
This is how Mama arranged our presents!!! We all really liked it, and it keeps the spiral tree out of the way so it doesn’t get almost-knocked-over. (That painting above the fireplace is by Rod Chase, by the way.)
Here’s what I got (besides my iMac and the Copics I needed to color Christmas gifts with) for Christmas:
From left to right: Yoshi wallet, Yu-gi-oh! keychains, giant clothespin, shampoo bar, tweezers, penguin mug, eye mask, seven pairs of socks.
This Yoshi wallet is a gift from my brother and his dad.
It opens like this, with a latch that slides through the notch and folds down to secure it. Inside was an iTunes gift card, which was quite a nice surprise! XD
Both sides have card slots, and the “window” slots for ID cards came with an extra sheet in each one to protect against ink bleeding/smudging due to the plastic.
Size comparison to my previous wallet and my purse. (And with my previous wallet, I did have to fold my bills; I couldn’t leave them flat like I’ll be able to with the Yoshi wallet.)
Also from my brother and his dad–Dark Magician (Black Magician) and Dark Magician Girl (Black Magician Girl) keychains!!
I never expected these! *0* I hadn’t even seen them before! But it made me very happy ^v^
This was at the bottom of everyone’s stockings! We each had a different kind of shampoo, and all of them smell amazing. They’re from Frugally Sustainable, and they seem to be working well for us so far, so definitely check them out!!! To use, all you do is get your hair thoroughly wet, get the shampoo bar nice and wet, and then rub it between your hands or on your head to get a good lather. ^^
Stocking stuffers! The tweezers we had in my bathroom were useless, but these are really nice. I like that they’re purple too. x3 (My brother got a green pair as well.) Christmas socks! And a giant purple clothespin (my brother got a green one) because…why not? XD
ISN’T. THIS. MUG. ADORABLE……?! It’s nice and big too. It’ll hold a cup of soup or cereal, or a nice big serving of hot chocolate! My brother got the snowman one. Thanks, Mama!
Ankle socks in my stocking~ Actually, I don’t think all my socks came in my stocking, but…yeah. Socks! ovo
And more socks! Lookatthosecutepenguinsadslkfjkdsgfl!!!
I’m wearing these right now. They’re aloe-infused, obviously, and they’re soooo very soft. :3
And lastly, an eye mask! I’ve been needing one for a while, as sometimes even though the room is dark, it’s still just a bit too bright to get to sleep.
I also got money from Grandmother, and she also gave Mama and I some clothes that she and I can probably share. Thank you so much!!
Well, that’s everything! How was your Christmas? What did you do? What did you receive…or what was something you gave that really made you happy to give? 🙂