This year’s Christmas was a subdued affair. Sick relatives, sick me, immunocompromised mom, ancient grandma… all of these things led to Christmas at home with just my husband and our dachshunds verses a big extended family celebration. But the day still felt special.
Things kicked off with a big delivery of presents from Santa Claus. How that guy sneaks into the house every year without getting caught I will never understand. He filled our stockings and the pooches were up right at 6am to investigate!
Everyone received a mix of both practical and fun gifts. After the excitement of opening everything we all needed a little rest! The next few hours were spent lounging in our new Christmas pjs.
Mid day seemed like a good time to open a couple of gifts that had come in the mail. The first was totally unexpected, but came from a known sender.
@thedamus!Look at this lovely 1962 Canadian Half Dollar! It features a super young Queen Elizabeth II and is made from actual silver (.800 Fine). The coat of arms on the reverse is so intricate.
@thedamus for this unexpected bit of shiny! I can’t wait to see you in VEGAS!The next gift to unwrap was expected, but from an unknown sender. You see each year 
Well aside from the plethora of delicious Hawaiian chocolates, my Secret Santa gift include TWO glorious ounces of silver (both with airtites on the side… Santa knows me well.) The first ounce is a classic American coin, the 2021 American Silver Eagle. This one features a newly designed reverse to celebrate the coins 35th anniversary! The other piece of silver is a Christmas round. I love Christmas silver. Thank you so much for both of these great gifts “Secret” Santa. I am super excited to see you in Vegas too!
Next on the day’s agenda, it was time to cook dinner. I made enough food for a house full of guests. The menu included roast turkey, bread stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, green olives, late harvest Riesling for me, ginger beer for my husband and apple pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert.
After doing the dishes and some more lounging on the couch, it was time to open more presents! I really like to drag out the gift opening. So it has become this weird tradition where my husband and I don’t open our tree gifts to one another until the evening. Pre-covid this was mostly out of necessity as we typically would spend Christmas breakfast at my aunt’s, then mid day to dinner at my parent’s, followed by post dessert pop ins with friends. The spreading things out is my favorite way to savor the day.
