Merry Doikmas!!

Yes, it's here!!  It's Doikmas Day!! Are you as excited as we are??

This year we've got a full house. We even decided to relocate Doikmas to the den, because it's a larger room and has more seating space. Along with the family, GDizzle is also here, and KB said she would stop by on her way home from Gatlinburg.

We started with the dinner, whose theme was red, white, and green food. We did pretty well, with cranberry meatballs, spinach dip, potato soup, sliced turkey sliders, green salad, green beans, green and red chips, mashed potatoes, and strawberries and grapes. Sure, the presentation left a lot to be desired (shout out to everyone else in the world who knows how to doll up a Christmas table - you know who I'm talking about - I've seen your Instagram photos!). At least there was enough variety for everyone to find something to eat.

Once dinner was done, we headed into the den for gifts. First everyone opened their stockings. This year our gift theme was "My Favorite Things," where each person had to think of something they really like, and that perhaps another person in the family might also like. This included getting things for everyone's stockings. Everyone pulled stuff out of their stockings, and seemed pretty happy about the stuff they pulled out.

Of course, it didn't matter if they didn't. As usual, we had the amnesty bin, where anyone could deposit anything they were not thrilled about. This year was going to be great, because if someone didn't like something and put it in the amnesty bin, it would be quickly retrieved by the giver - after all, it was somebody's favorite thing!!

Once the stockings were emptied, it was time for the gifts. There was a mountain of gifts, since everyone gets something for everyone else. Somehow Molly got roped into being the elf, and soon the gifts were flying about. Everley and Lindley were happy as long as they had something to unwrap, and everyone else tried to stay focused on what they were unwrapping and what someone else was unwrapping. Among the hits were: drones, flashlights, knives, bobble-heads, boots, earrings, binoculars, dolls, books, tiny models, and a whole lot of other stuff. I would have taken more/better photos, but it kind got a little cray-cray.

Eventually everything got unwrapped, and actually nothing got deposited in the amnesty bin. Guess we all did pretty good this year!!

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Thankful today for: family and Doikmas; Molly cooking/preparing most of the dinner; gifts of favorite things