The holidays

 It most certainly did not feel like Christmas this year.
Very few homes had decorations on the outside.
No big Christmas parties.
No Snow.
We did have a tree, though. It's about a foot high, "baby" pine tree. We decorated our baby tree with mini-lights, painted pull tabs and bottle caps, and bead strings.

 

We opened the gifts from my parents and each other on Christmas morning. I got a coat, thermals, and socks from my parents (much needed items). Shaun got a few shirts and Levi brand pants (trousers) from my parents. He got a watch, Xbox headset, and Toy Story "Bucket O' Soldiers" from me. I got a beautiful necklace from him.

We had Christmas dinner at his mom's house and exchanged gifts with his family. We also opened Christmas crackers, this was a new experience for me. Christmas crackers are tubes filled with goodies and random little things. You pull one end, while someone pulls the other. When it breaks open it makes a small bang from the firecracker-type-device inside. Once it's opened, you can find out what you got. Ours had little, wind-up bath toys. They also contain paper crowns and a piece of paper with a joke and games on it. According to the Internet:
"The idea of wearing a paper crown may have originated from the Twelfth Night celebrations, where a King or Queen was appointed to look over the proceedings." 

The day after Christmas is also a holiday, Boxing Day. Boxing Day is the equivalent of Black Friday. Stores open at ridiculous hours and have insane sales and bargains, which people line up around the block for. And according to the Internet, again:
"Boxing Day is so called because it was the custom on that day for tradesmen to collect their Christmas boxes or gifts in return for good and reliable service throughout the year."
We ended up going to Shaun's mom's again and eating left-overs from Christmas. It was a nice day to relax after the hustle and bustle of Christmas.  

New Year's Eve was a lot of fun. We went to a house party where we had plenty to drink. I got to see Dance Central on the Xbox Kinect...It brought back fond memories of Paco and I on Just Dance, for the Wii :P
Kinect is one of the coolest things I've seen for a console. Almost worth buying an Xbox for...almost. I also got to meet some good people.