Christmas proper

Like lots of people, the Box family has a few traditions that make Christmas Christmas. LL, especially, makes sure that we at least attempt to reenact a vintage Box Family Christmas (think Clark W. Griswald, only without the apoplectic response to yuletide adversity).

Christmas Requirement 1:
We had a party on Dec 23rd with Streak and David (who probably have last names) and their kids Heather and Brandon. Heather and her husband Mike hosted the party at their house. Per tradition, the food was from Uncle Julio's (a restaurant, not a family member), and the margaritas were stout. A good time was had by all.

Christmas Requirement 2:
Christmas Eve was spent in Murphy, TX, with the Breens, who are members of LL's Dad's family. The Breens are a fun group. They also have lots of dogs and cats and birds and now kids. There was a bit of worry this year about the food (for some reason we were having sandwiches from the grocery store deli instead of Dickie's barbecue...LL handled this untraditional vulgarism admirably), but we ended with some quality gift opening and everyone went home happy.

Christmas Requirement 3:
Christmas morning with the Box family requires all the 'kids' (including 30-something-year-old married couples) to wait at the top of the stairs (even if you slept on the couch downstairs) while Santa finishes down in the den. Family photos on the walls indicate that this tradition used to include matching outfits, but I was against wearing a sailor suit. But LL did wake up early and get all spiffied up, whereas I slept until the last possible minute. It seems both of us were happy with our respective choices. Anyway, here we are on Christmas morning!

Gift-wise, I got quite a haul, honestly, but it might be tacky to tell everyone about it all. Tradition does not call for an online list of your presents, after all.

Here is a picture of LL and Grandma. LL's wearing a pink shirt that she got from Melissa from some store in Oklahoma that Melissa loves (Mark (her fiancee) is from Oklahoma). The shirt says "I'm so OK." I got one that says "Okie doke."

A house filled with candy and presents and wrapping paper is no place for a puppy. Teacup does not agree. She had to spend most of the day on the patio :-(

Christmas Requirement 4:

Later in the day, LL's mom's family came over for turkey and tamales. I succeeded in continuing my eating binge into a third consecutive day. It's not my fault, obviously. I mean...tamales. The picture above is Lillian (she's 4), Leslie, and a very-elated-to-be-inside Teacup. Lillian was very cool and she let me play with a "My Little Pony" named Rainbow Dash. Like me, you may be surprised to learn that Rainbow is a boy pony. I still have my doubts.

Christmas night culminated with a grab bag extravaganza. Basically, Leslie (who's a school teacher) let everyone rummage through her bag of goodies that her students gave her this year. None of the guys seemed willing to participate.

Well...that's it. All in all I think it was a great Christmas! I also think it's funny that Super-UT-fan Leslie Box has one son-in-law who's an Aggie (me), and a future son-in-law that's as Boomer Sooner as you can get. Bummer.

Merry Christmas!