Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas with a Stuard

Last year was technically our first Christmas together, but I don't look at it that way. I hadn't been in Germany for two weeks yet and we had pretty much nothing in the house. It was a wonderful Christmas though. We were together for the first time in three months and we still managed to have pumpkin pie. This year, we are more set up and we actually have a tree that was given to us. Unfortunately, we were just NOT in the Christmas spirit this year. There is no snow on the ground over here (last year we were covered in feet of it), we didn't have the tree or any decorations up, and after watching other couples fly to the states to be with family, we became a little homesick. Nothing felt like Christmas.

Because of this, I didn't make any plans for Christmas day. I thought it would just be us, at home, enjoying movies, and eating by ourselves. I was looking forward to it. Besides, by this point, it was too close to Christmas to plan a big meal and invite people over. After watching my mom be the perfect Southern hostess for years, I have a lot to live up to and it takes me a lot more time of planning and preparing to even get somewhat close. We were past the point of no return and nothing big was supposed to happen.

The night before Christmas Eve, at exactly 8:45, my husband and I were at the commissary picking up a few things before the store closed. It was at this time that Tyler suddenly got the idea to invite two couples over for Christmas. He looked at me, told me his plan, and then started to call his work friends. I was ok with this. It was only two couples and we still had a day to get a little dinner ready. I immediately went to the frozen section to grab a ham. Thankfully they weren't out of them. Yay, check one, ham. Since the store was closing in 10 minutes, we decided to come back the next day and get the rest of what we needed.

The next day, Christmas Eve, we woke up and finished the funiture moving we had started the day before (give us time off and we start rearraning the WHOLE house) It was crazy and exhausting. Why did we do this and not go grocery shopping right away....like the moment we woke up?? I have no idea. I would like to say it was Tyler's idea, but I actually don't know who's idea it was. But, we finished that and THEN went to the commissary. Which of course, was CLOSED at this point. Oh yeah, the commissary does close early Christmas Eve, doesn't it? At this point, I was ready to cry. I had people coming to my house the next day and all I had was ham and a few things at my house. Not the perfect feast I was thinking of. But there wasn't much we could do; so we raided two shoppettes and grabbed anything they happened to have. And I must admit, the meal actually turned out great. It wan't traditional or anything; but there was plently of food and it was good. Thankfully I had a mother who taught me the importance of keeping a good stock of basics in the house and I am blessed with the means to do so. There was no pumpkin pie, but there was chocolate cake. And we finally put up the tree Christmas morning. Its amazing what a simple act like putting up a tree can do for your Christmas spirit.

This was a Stuard type Christmas. It went against my Benoit training, but it was a very enjoyable Christmas. I didn't stress (execpt for maybe a few minutes in front of the commissary) but instead we went with the flow and had fun together. Next year though, I will not be caught in front of a closed commissary with a list in my hand. Old habits die hard :)

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