Hail's Kitchen: Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?

I just returned from a most excellent Christmas at my parent's house. I am relaxed, recharged and my jeans don't fit as sveltely as they did one week ago. Tis the season to eat and drink from sun up to sun down, right?

We normally attend Christmas Eve service, but this year we praised baby Jesus' birth in a whole new way: The Beatles on Rock Band. I wish I had had a video camera to capture the awesomeness that was our evening. Singing was a gene that was left out of our genome. Fortunately, my sister married Nick who vocally carried us through many four star performances. My parents both took turns at the mic crooning away to their favorite tunes -- my mom favoring the psychedelic, Indian-inspired tune Within You Without You. Sweet baby Jesus. This was the highlight of the entire weekend for me getting a glimpse of my mom in her hippie days. I was waiting for the LSD to magically appear. The judge also rocked out on Helter Skelter until he got claustrophobic from the presents 'Santa' had placed near him. "Why are all these presents closing in on me." I can't do it justice. It was the best Christmas Eve ever.

The rest of the weekend was equally as enjoyable. We played lots of games, namely Settlers of Catan. It is a new favorite in our family, and I highly recommend it for yours too. We played it at least ten times. We ate copious amounts of delicious, non-fat food, NOT!, and consumed more Coors Lights than I care to admit. I'm still digesting and cannot think about the 17,000 calories I will have to burn off so I have something fun to share with you that is not food-related.

This is a photo of my parent's living room:

On this table are Christmas photographs from over the years. It has become a sister tradition to get a photo taken with Santa and put it in my mom's stocking. However, a sad thing happened last year: my parents moved to Burley. Santa doesn't live in Burley. He lives at the Magic Valley Mall in Twin Falls. It was the first time we had EVER skipped a Santa picture. We did not disappoint this year.

Now that we are all adults, sitting on Santa's lap is a tad bit uncomfortable. We all get anxious on the approach to center-court because no one wants to sit directly on Santa's lap. Please note in the following grownup sister pictures who is never sitting directly on Santa's lap. Muhahahaha.

For years my mom took us to the same Santa in Nampa. I really thought this man was Santa. He lived forever. You'll see. The man drank out of the cup of everlasting Santa life. I wish he was still around, as they just don't make Santas like they used to.

I hope you and yours had a very Merry Christmas. xoH