I really didn't want to host Christmas Eve and Christmas, so I eventually talked Erika into hosting it at her place with Zach. We talked about it off and on just to make sure she was still on board, and she said she was...we just had to make a solid plan of when and what we were going to eat. During her birthday party we talked about it briefly and everyone agreed on tacos and doing it around 4 on Christmas Eve. Everything was set. Now we just had to decide what everyone was going to bring for tacos.
I wrote everyone a reminder email on the 19th and let everyone know what to bring and only Grandma wrote back. Erika and Zach were going to provide the meat and seasonings and whatever else was already in their fridge, Ben and I were going to bring the beans, rice and cheese, Grandma wanted to bring the lettuce and taco sauce and Mom and Dad brought the chips and salsa.
Erika called me a few days beforehand to ask me to bring the folding tables. I told her I would throw them in the back of the Escape with all the presents I had to bring. She said that they had a tiny tree that was sitting in front of their fireplace because they didn't have room for an actual tree in their house. I told her she could rearrange everything, and she said no, she and Zach were fine with their tiny tree with like four ornaments on it. I just laughed.
I am so glad we had Christmas Eve off. This was the first time since I've been at L&I, that Christmas Eve was a paid holiday. Every other year I just worked it because there was no sense in taking it off. I did, however, take the day off after Christmas off if it wasn't a weekend. If it was, I took the following Monday off.
My Christmas Eve started out around 10:30, yeah...I slept in, ate a quick breakfast of grapes, yogurt and half a blueberry bagel. I told Mom I was going to be heading into Rainier soon to drop off the recycle and she asked me to stop by the store to pick up some Karo syrup because she wanted to make some caramel popcorn. I loaded up the recycle and stopped by the store. I asked Erika if she needed anything for our gathering later on that evening and she said to find out what is in Grandma's punch and to get her some. I went into Rainier and dumped off the recycle and then went to Grandma's house to drop off some stuff and found out Grandma had some extra Karo since the store was completely out of it. We chatted for a bit and then I went to Mom and Dad's house to also drop some stuff off, pick some stuff up and fill the water jugs with Rainier water. I helped her make caramel popcorn. I loaded stuff into the Escape and headed back into Lacey.
Ben and I did a couple chores and then got ready to go over to Erika and Zach's for Christmas Eve. Ben helped me pack up the tables, food, presents and we headed over with Doug in tow. We got there before 4:00 and Doug, Ben and I brought in all the stuff. Erika was in the middle of getting the taco meat ready and told me that she had no idea how much to make. I told her that was my problem every time I hosted a party or gathering with food. Now she understood how much work and thinking went into hosting a bunch of people at your house. Zach got out the fart machine and made everyone laugh.
We put all the presents underneath their tiny tree...which was basically a pile near the fireplace. Mom, Dad and Grandma showed up and we helped bring in their stuff. Mom, Grandma, Erika and I finished setting out all the food on the counter trying to keep Emmett and Toby from getting in the kitchen. Erika had this wimpy gate, that was set up in front of the entrance to the kitchen and it seemed to be doing its job...for now.
The food was done so we all crowded into the kitchen and loaded up on tacos, tortilla chips and salsa and went into the living room to spread out and eat. I sat at one of the folding tables because I didn't want to hold my food in my lap. Of course, the dogs expected some handouts. We chatted and Erika and Zach threw on a movie to watch in the background called Klaus. I've never heard of it before, and it had a good message.
We opened presents and made a huge mess of crinkled up paper, tissue paper and boxes. The dogs were having a heyday and still expected us to share our empty plates with them. We threw waded up paper at each other and to make matters worse, Zach bought Ben, Doug and Dad nerf shotguns and of course, they shot them at everyone. They kept hitting me in the face, the knuckles and the kneecaps. Those buggers sting when they hit you. I helped Erika pick up all the paper and stuffed it into the garbage bags. I told her I would take it to the recycle when I went. Everyone got their stuff organized since the living room was destroyed with wrapping paper. Zach turned on another movie called Notzilla but we didn't end up finishing it.
We thanked Erika and Zach for hosting Christmas Eve and a good time. We gathered up all of our stuff, leftover food and the folding tables and loaded them into the Escape. I told Erika to bring the boxes over the next day since we didn't have room with everything inside of it. She said she would. Mom gave me the Christmas breakfast casseroles and Grandma finished my Coug bench seat cover that I paid her to do. She did a good job and it looked pretty sharp.
Close to 1 a.m. I was finally done; Ben and I put on our jingle jammies and went to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day. Merry Christmas Eve everyone!
Next Adventure: Christmas Day
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