not a tv Christmas

You know those Christmas family gatherings where the huge extended family gather to exchange large presents, drink eggnog, eat rich food and sing together? I used to wish my family had Christmases like that.

Christmas in my family was always a lot quieter, since it was just me, my brother and my mother. My brother and I are agnostic, so there's not a lot of carol-singing.

When it was just the 3 of us, we'd eat heaps of food, my brother and I would exchange presents, then we'd sit and watch tv for a couple of hours before going back to our respective homes. Boring but comfy.

This year the gathering included my partner, my brother's partner and their little son, so there was a chance for something a little closer to a "TV Christmas". Yeah, there was more conversation, and there were more presents, so it was, a little.

But of course when you've got little kids you don't get to stick around and socialise for hours and hours.

We'd all gone by 7, and we'd only been at my mother's house since 5.

Just as well I'm not a traditionalist.

Presents:
My guy got me a Spike (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) action figure, and season one of The X-Files on DVD. (Dave usually gets me DVDs, just as my brother usually gives me CDs.) So not much different there, but then again I do love the first season of X-Files. I got Dave a Lord of the Rings - Two Towers chess set. The pieces include Ents, Frodo, Orcs etc so it looks good. I hope he finds someone to play chess with. Mum got an electric jug, which she asked for, and some foot bath stuff.

My brother and his lady got 2 seats at the flash Cinelounge movie theatre (plus the obligatory offer to babysit on the evening they use them), and they gave us ...... a DVD (Red Dwarf). So Thomas has graduated from CDs to DVDs - quite a small step in present-buying evolution I'd say.

My nephew got lots of toys of course, including this cute little electric guitar with built-in applause button.

Mum never gives presents except to non-family - must be a Chinese thing (unless it's a stingyness thing) - but she did do all the cooking so I'll have to let her off the hook.

Maybe New Year will be different....