Our Christmas this year spanned an entire week… from Friday, December 22 to Saturday, December 30!
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December 22
After I got out of work on Friday, we drove up to Townsend, MA to spend the weekend with Becky’s folks.
December 23
On Saturday, the Lowe side of Becky’s family came up to visit. Tom and Gabi and their boys came, as well as Sue, Pete, and Greg. We had a nice dinner of ham and turkey, squash, decadent mashed potatoes, green beans sauteed in garlic and butter, rolls… yum. We exchanged gifts and had a nice time chatting with everyone and playing with the young’n’s. (Pics [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/christmas_lowe/) for those with family access.)
December 24
On Sunday morning, we went to the Christmas Eve morning church service in Townsend. We then headed out to Shrewsbury, MA. Our first stop was at my Aunt Joan and Uncle Errol’s house, where Scott, Kim, and Mark were visiting. They all had a chance to see Catherine, as well as catch up with Becky and I.
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Catherine with Mark and Scott
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After that, we headed just a few streets over to the Quitadamo Christmas Eve party at Richie and Julie’s house. The whole clan was there, and we actually managed to get a nice group photo! We had the gift grab, and also showered the kids with gifts. Our dinner was Italian… eggplant parm, antipasto, lasagna, Italian wedding soup, stuffed mushrooms. The works. (Pics [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/christmas_eve_quitadamo/) for those with family access.)
For Sunday evening, we headed back to Townsend, and went to the midnight church service. I always enjoy the singing of soft carols on the night before Christmas, and the candle-lit mood at the end.
December 25
Christmas Day was spent at the Lowe household in Townsend. We opened stockings, had Belgian waffles for breakfast, opened presents, and then spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing with our new stuff. We had a lot of fun playing our new Karaoke Revolution game… 🙂
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Catherine checks out the gifts.
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Playing Karaoke Revolution
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After eating a dinner of some very delicious leftovers from earlier in the weekend, we packed up the Corolla to bursting (really, we couldn’t have possibly fit more in the car…) and headed back to Beverly.
December 26
I went to work.
December 27
I went to work.
In the evening, my parents arrived in Beverly. They had flown from Ohio to Pennsylvania to visit my mom’s side of the family, and then drove in a rental car up to Massachusetts. We hung out and played Karaoke Revolution.
December 28
I took the day off of work!
My parents came over in the morning for “Christmas” breakfast and a gift exchange. Becky made a breakfast casserole. Mmmm. 🙂 We had subs and pizza for lunch, hung out for the afternoon, and then Mom and Dad babysat Catherine while Becky and I went out to dinner and a movie. We saw [Night at the Musem](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0477347/), which I highly recommend! It was a lot better than we had expected… very funny. A great movie for kids and adults alike. After we got back, we had a mini birthday party for Mom.
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Mom and Catherine
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The family opening gifts
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December 29
I took this day off of work, too!
My parents came over again, and we all piled into the car for a little trip. Our first stop was at the new [LL Bean](http://www.llbean.com/) store in Burlington, MA. It was packed with shoppers returning or exchanging their Christmas gifts, as well as people taking advantage of after-Christmas sales. After the Bean, we headed out to Framingham to meet Joan and Erroll for lunch at [Chef Orient](http://www.cheforientrestaurant.com/). We ate in the Japanese half of the restaurant, and we all had teppanyaki entrees, cooked in the usual entertaining style. We also had a another little birthday celebration for Mom (and Joan). Joan and Erroll had brought out a delicious cake and some gifts for mom.
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Teppanyaki at Chef Orient
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Stan and Joan|ppp
After we got back to Beverly, we relaxed at home, and played some more Karaoke Revolution as well as Dance Dance Revolution.
December 30
Mom and Dad came over with breakfast from [Bagel World](http://www.bagelworld.net/). We checked out some of the photos from our last few days together, and said our goodbyes, as they had to head back out. We’ll miss them, and I know that they’ll miss us (especially Catherine!)
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Mom, Dad, and Catherine
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We’ve spent much of today cleaning up the apartment, sorting out and putting away the gifts, and getting ready for 2007. We don’t have any big plans for the New Year’s weekend… mostly just to rest and relax!
We hope that everyone else has had a great Christmas!
