We had planned on making our regular red-eye drive on Christmas Eve from Michigan to Missouri, but after some fishtailing and 360ing on the highway due to freezing rain just west of Ann Arbor, we ended up spending the night in a hotel and driving all of Christmas day (12 hours). The hand of God must have been carrying our car through those 360 spins on the highway because we were less than six inches from hitting another car as we were propelled backwards and sideways. It was as if I was in a movie because it seemed so surreal that we made it out without so much as a scratch! I'm thinking I cashed in a lot of good karma on that one!! I'm terribly unlucky when it comes to gambling, games, or winning things... but when it comes to life... I'm very, very, VERY lucky.
After arriving safely in Missouri in the evening, we celebrated a small Christmas with Alex's dad and then slept in before visiting his mom the next day. His family is much smaller than mine, and because of that, they celebrate gift opening very differently in that they wait for each person to open their gifts individually so that we celebrate each person's gift together. Of course this also gives me the perfect opportunity to highlight some of the interesting gifts and gift giving that goes on at Alex's mom's house...
Here you see Alex's brother handing out the stockings...
... have you ever seen these dryer balls? Apparently they're amazing. Maybe I'll try them out on my next load. ;-)
Alex's step-dad gets a special gift... (if you don't appreciate bodily humor, you might not want to watch these videos)
My mother-in-law created a pick-a-gift... which was a little difficult for Alex and his brother to figure out...
I have to admit that my first Christmas with this family was a little weird to me, but I have since grown to love them, their interesting gifts, and their celebrations so much. I'm so lucky to have such an enjoyable set of in-laws. ;-)
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Ok, I really want to know how those dryer balls work!! Please let us know if they are uber-fabulous!
ReplyDeleteOh how I love bodily humor! hahahahahaha I was giggling and the kids wanted to know what was so funny.
ReplyDeleteWe got some dryer balls after hearing raves. The only thing we notice is that it hasn't helped much with static. It does fluff them like no tomorrow though. ;)
Anne - Your in-laws are adorable! And I love these slice-of-life moments. Happy dryer-balling in 2008 :)
ReplyDeleteThose dryer balls do work well. They don't work on static, but they do soften clothing. I use them along with the reusable all natural Trader Joe's Lavender dryer packs. My dh has asthma, and we both have allergies, so the switch has really helped us both breathe better. Commercial dryer sheets have so many nasty chemicals in them. I'm not a birkenstock with socks, granola only, won't shave my legs kinda gal, but the switch did help, and as for static, nothing beats natural fibers--or for warmth, either.
ReplyDeleteYou do have to get used to the sound of them bouncing around in the dryer like a pair of sneakers...
Anne, I'm really enjoying your blogs. I saved your small rant/essay on pleasing clients on your lovecats blog, and it gave me some good ideas for the etsy.com business I'm starting in a few weeks. Thanks so much for posting that and the gorgeous photos. I just bought a Nikon D40 to help me in my business venture, so I've been looking around at photography blogs recently. Yours is definitely getting bookmarked!
Hey anne :)
ReplyDeleteI was basically wondering what camera you have?
I'm just starting photography and would be very internesting to see :)
Thanks a lot !
Joe - I have a list of my camera gear on the side of my blog. Click on the header above the gear to see all of it.
ReplyDelete