Lots of stuff has happened over the last few days.

Saturday: We didn’t really do all that much, but Stephanie bought some Mexican food for us for dinner. Then all of us except Dad went to the Christmas Eve service at a nearby church. This was relatively normal until the very end of the service, when the pastor said, “We hope you will join us for Easter service tomorrow.” Everyone started laughing like crazy. “I’m sorry. Christmas service is tomorrow. This is the third service I’ve done today; I’m a bit tired,” he continued.

Sunday: Christmas! I got up early to make edible penguin appetizers. (Note: Using “colossal” olives for these is not a great idea; “extra large” olives work better.) Everybody gathered at my place, where we had coffee and presents. Everybody got all kinds of stuff. I gave out magnetic pens to everybody with their books and CDs and page-a-day calendars. I got some books, a sweater, and several gift cards. Moira got a pull-back cat toy and a can of cat food. She liked the toy, at least.

Then we went to Stephanie’s for lunch, where we had leftovers from Saturday night. This worked out well. Then we all went back to my place, and I put the turducken in the oven and spent some time fooling around before it was time to get all the side dishes ready. Steve and Joy came over, and they brought crackers and several interesting cheeses. We had the penguin appetizers, which everyone liked. Then it was time for dinner. We had turducken, shrimp stuffed with crab, brioche, salad, and some of the red wine we got from Casavino earlier. Stephanie and Joy had brought Jello, pudding, and cookies, so we had tons of dessert too. We all had a good time (and ate way too much), so everybody was happy.

Monday: This started off with an attempt to mail all of the presents my parents got home. Of course, most of the places that mail things were closed. We finally found a place. For lunch, Dad attempted to make a “turducken sandwich” out of various leftovers. It apparently worked out well. Not much else was going on, so Stephanie came over, and we all watched “Babylon 5: A Call To Arms”. Then we all went out to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes.

Not a bad day, or a bad end to a vacation. The parents are leaving tomorrow, and I’ve got to go back to work tomorrow. (I usually take the time between Christmas and New Year’s off as a sanity-preserving measure, but that’s not possible this year.) Ah well.