My family is in NC - so I drove up last Wednesday, and we exchanged gifts on Saturday, as I had to drive back Sunday to work on Monday.

It was a modest Christmas for us all. From my parents I got printer ink (color and black), honey with the honeycomb in it, tea, a fire extinguisher (not sure what made them get that), an electronic rubik's cube game, wheel covers, a new tire, and flannel sheets.

My grandmother and my aunt and uncle both gave me some money, my brother is a photographer and had one of his photographs professionally framed for me.

Karl gave me a scarf/glove/hat set, some clothes, a coffee mug and a shelving unit.

I got a great deal on a Garmin for my parents - their faces when they opened it was the best part of Christmas for me!

Karl and I tried going to the movies today around 1, only to find that on Christmas, they were starting after 4, so we stopped at Hollywood video and picked up some videos, stopped at Waffle House for lunch, and we'll heat up the Boston Market dinner I picked up yesterday. It's been a very cold, rainy day today - which we are thankful for the rain, the warm roof over our head and the chance to just be together.

We also went to a beautiful Christmas Eve candlelight and communion service at our local Methodist church last night which we have always wanted to do each Christmas but have never done before.