X-mas is here already?!

Believe it or not, but Christmas really snuck up on me this year. One day I'm just happily chopping away at my parent's future quilt, the other I realise that OMG tonight there's this dinner-thing at my dad's and I don't have gifts for my stepbrother and his girlfriend yet.
Worse still: I haven't a clue whether my grandmother will be there, and whether my aunt will be there, and what to give them!?
And yet, worse still: We were up until midnight playing D&D and my alarm went of at 6.30 am. There's no way I can stay awake during the festivities tonight, espeically the forced cheerfulness at watching "Kroamschudd'n in Mariaparochie" yet again... for the umpteeth year in a row...

But chill, everything will be fine, it's just a logistical challenge. There's supposedly this grand chocolatier around here, and we'll drop in during lunch. That'll take care of any extra gifts I need to arrange. I can call my dad to check if grandma will be there, but I suspect she will have opted to stay at home because of the snows.

Can anyone please tell me how an old, bearded fellow, his eight or nine reindeer, his sleigh and a ton of gifts can be so stealthily?

Christmas (1)

First up was the Christmas celebration at my father's, who's claimed December 24th for over ten years now. We were ten, all in all, including my grandmother and Aunt Henny.

Dinner was...just a lot of food. I focused mainly on the string beans and carrots, having some potato gratin as well. I also had a teensy bit of beef, but it was smaller than two fingers.

After dinner were presents! I bought my grandmother a puzzle book (and I was pleased to notice I wasn't the only one having a puzzle book gift-wrapped at the bookstore), because she loves doing a puzzle in the morning. For Aunt Henny there were bon-bons, just like for Raphael and his girlfriend Margarite. There was a tapas cookbook for Jos and Eef, a Dutch cookbook for my stepmother, some coffee liquor (Amaretto taste) and chocolate for my dad, and I bought NoKey two cd's of Muse (not a completely selfless gift).

My father and Detty gifted me with a Philips wake-up light, which might help with my problems to get out of bed in the morning. Those things are outrageously expensive, and I can't help but feel a bit guilty because the Consumentengids had a comparative test of the real thing and four fakes, which are a lot cheaper and work (almost) just as well.

But I've no intention of using the wake-up light just yet... I look forward to a long weekend of sleeping in!