Rose, my dbro and I quit exchanging gifts quite some time ago -- he suggested it and said he and dsisil would give to my dgrands, but we'd stop exchanging with adults -- except we both still give dmom gifts.
Dbroil though... sigh... I have to let THEM make the suggestion, since the children are in my bunch. I can't say let's stop exchanging gifts and disappoint dgrands, or let's stop exchanging gifts, but y'all can keep giving my grandchildren nice things. LOL. We have all exchanged gifts since I married into this family. It is getting tiresome though.
This year dsisil asked if we would like to do Christmas Eve at their house. Except for the one year that dmil's house was empty, we've done Christmas Eve at that house (where ds/family live now) every single year. DH would have had a FIT if we'd changed. Even when dfil was bed-bound, Christmas Eve was there... and last year, without dh, it was there. DH spent every Christmas Eve of his life at that house and after 44 years, I kinda hate to change. OTOH, ds and ddil are very happy to give it up, since plowing through the clutter of just their living room and kitchen is an awful lot of trouble for them.
DDIL may have to work Christmas Eve day also, so that's an even bigger incentive for her to give up hosting.
DS did ask me if we could still have bar-b-que from favorite restaurant, so I have to ask dsisil if that is still in the plan.
I have had a very nice day -- enjoyed celebrating little cousin's 2nd birthday, went out to dmom's and put her hair in rollers for church tomorrow
(so glad she's feeling better!) dgrands and I helped her get her fall decorations in off the porch and I put her Swiffer mop together... and then dgrands and I went to see dcousin age 12 perform in a junior version of The Wizard of Oz. It was sooo good! It is a county-wide production of middle school students. One of my former students (and distant cousins) is the teacher in charge of it. It was amazing to me to see what they can do with what I am sure is a very limited budget. I love everything about the Wizard of Oz anyway, so it was right down my alley to begin with.
Dcousin didn't have a speaking part (except to "meow" -- she was the cat that Toto chased at the end, causing Dorothy to miss the balloon ride with the wizard) but she was on stage as also as a munchkin and carried clouds that said "Surrender, Dorothy."
After we got home, local reporter friend called to interview dgs. He had already talked to ds -- said his editor told him to interview "an Auburn family." He said he immediately thought of us, since dgs was a 4th generation attending the big game next week. He wants to take a picture of ds and dgs Monday morning.
(I know some of y'all can't relate to how big this game is down here but in this state, as dgs told the reporter, it's something people talk about all year. I'm sure Rose and Bama know what I mean, LOL.)
Dcousins asked dgd and me to join all of them to watch together. Their three adult sons run a gym and they all get together and watch on a big screen there -- here in town. It's a night game, so I don't know if we'll stay for the whole game, but I think we'll go down there for the first half anyway. I suspect there will be lots of good food!
However, tonight dgs has thrown up and is in the shower here at 12:45. I hope he feels better tomorrow. He probably did not take his antacid this morning. It is a recurring problem, but his gastroenterologist doesn't seem to think it happens often enough to be a sign of anything serious. He had a meatball sub for supper.
