Did you just see a Christmas zip by here?

Ian and I had everything ready for Christmas Eve, so that day I wove off the baby blanket. I had thought I'd get it done tomorrow, but we've decided to leave on Tuesday morning to beat a storm. It's a huge relief to be done. The blanket ended up being about a car-seat size, but the temple did it's thing and the selvedges are fine. Phew. Trimming off the ends was a pain.
This the first Christmas Eve that I didn't think to pull out my camera - maybe it's because I was having so much fun. DS Matty and his girlfriend Julia came a couple hours early. The new furniture arrangement truly is conducive to conversation and we ended up playing Mad Libs from a tablet he'd found at a drug store - great fun. The house filled up and got pretty crazy. One of our neighbors thanked me as they were leaving, saying that this was the first year they were spending Christmas alone, without their families. The potluck was good and people stayed and chatted, instead of popping in and moving on. Alexia waited patiently to try her Christmas present. We bought her Just Dance for Kids, a Wii dance-along game.
She is completely focused on mimicking the dances - the controller in her right hand lets her know how she's doing. You asked how the knitted jackalope is coming along. It's coming along, but just not in time for Christmas. I knitted on it for a full day while Ian was in SoCal for the memorial and realized that I have months of it ahead of me.
I'm glad we bought the Wii game or I'd have been knitting in my sleep. Ian and are completely taken by Wii. We bought it for Netflix movies and have only watched two. I can't stop playing tennis. (We also bought the Wii Fit, which keeps my muscles perpetually sore.) Anyway, there is still a party going on, but now clustered around the food, so there's room for her to play this.

I was a little nervous about an open house on Christmas Eve, but it was Ian's idea and so often his ideas are good. This I have learned. Shush - don't tell him I said that.
Ian and I opened our presents on Christmas Day. Charlie has fallen in love, or something, with my present. The closer it got to Christmas, the more open we'd hear him loving my present.
Granted, Ian's wrapping wasn't Macy's, but Charlie certainly person-
alized it. Ian was a little annoyed but I found it charming. The box was heavy and I honestly had no idea what it could be - seriously. Ian always gives me books and I think I forget how heavy books are, but it's because this year he bought three. The one that grabbed me out of the gate is The Hammersteins: a musical theater family. It's not just a family history, it's a history of musical theater and New York. I grew up in glee club and choir so know many of the Hammerstein songs. Perfect choice for me. He bought me a second non-fiction and also a debut novel, always a debut novel. Life of Pi and The Time Traveler's Wife are some of his obscure picks in the past.
I'm happy with the blanket and will get it wrapped tomorrow, along with the knitted fruits and ugly hat. Tomorrow will be laundry, packing and an early bedtime so we can get on the road Tuesday morning. Change of plans tonight - Alexia is going with us. Her parents are nervous but she will have a great time. I'm pretty sure she will talk our legs off for the first hour of the drive.