"Christmas Time's A Comin'"

If you attended our Christmas Variety Show, you will recognize the title. This blog isn't about the show, but since I mentioned it, I thought it went very well. This has been the most relaxed year for me as the director. I guess I've just come to realize that things usually fall into place, so there is no need to freak out beforehand. We had well over 200 in attendance which isn't bad in my opinion. The only issue was my voice. I woke up Sunday morning and had lost my voice. I really thought that once I got it warmed up, it would be better. I was wrong! At 3:00, I was gargling salt water, drinking tea, taking DayQuil, taking honey and lemon, and I STILL couldn't sing. After we rehearsed a few times, I realized that I just couldn't sing, so Pastor Lori graciously took my solos and I just squeaked through the other songs. I didn't recover my voice until Wednesday. I was so frustrated, I could have cried... it's just disappointing to practice things and prepare to have it all changed up at the last minute. Oh, well. There's always next year!

Usually, Christmas Day is a fun day to spend with family, open presents, play with them, eat and chill out. Not for the Barrineaus. Our Christmas is probably the most hectic day for us... well, Christmas and Thanksgiving since it's pretty much the same routine for both days.

We wake up at Chuck's parents' house. We usually go to Georgetown a few days early since his parents and sister see Micah and Aiden the least. We open presents with Chuck's parents, his sisters, his nephews, niece, and great-niece. Then, we eat. It's usually barbeque since his dad cooks a hog a few days before. This year, we also had a turkey.

Then, we leave and go to my mom's house in Mt. Pleasant. We eat again and open presents with my mom, my sisters, their husbands, and my brother. Last year, we played a little pool, but there wasn't much time for that this year.

After that, we go to my dad and step-mom's in West Ashley. (By this time, we usually have to make a trip to our house in Summerville to unload our car so there is room for more presents.) We eat... again. Usually, it's Puerto Rican food, which is awesome! Then we open presents yet again.

Cons: With all the traveling we are exhausted by the end of the day, I don't feel like we really get to see each family member because we spend just a little time at each house, there truly is no downtime, and Micah has to wait until the next day to get his presents out of the boxes since there isn't time for him to play. Oh, and we eat way too much food! Joy is going to kick our behinds the next time we workout!

Pros: Micah and Aiden get to see all their family in one day, our parents get to see their grandchildren, the boys are the only grand kids so they get insane amounts of gift which they get excited about, we eat lots of food :-)

Chuck and I saw "Four Christmases" a few weeks ago and laughed because it's pretty close to how we spend our holidays... minus the drama, etc.

I don't know... maybe one day we'll stay home and have our own Christmas with our own family traditions. I don't foresee that happening anytime soon. It's ok, though. We love our families and look forward to spending time with them any chance we get.

Anyone else have a crazy Christmas?