This Christmas was the first in five years where all of the Keddies were together -- David's eldest brother Donald was in Korea teaching English for several years, and though he was back Stateside last year, we were in Raleigh with my side of the family last Christmas. And though there have been multiple occasions where all of us have been together, it's still exciting to finally have everyone together for Christmas. David's mom celebrated the momentous occasion by making a real British Christmas cake! This may be a little silly, but I was really excited about this -- I'd only ever read about Christmas cakes in Dickens novels.
David's dad cutting the cake; honest-to-goodness Christmas cake!
Royal icing and marzipan, over a cake chock full of golden raisins, candied orange peel, currants, and dried cherries, soaked in brandy and continuously 'fed' over the course of several weeks... And also surprisingly tasty! This was the capstone to a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner.
Christmas morning, we all gathered around the tree and took turns opening presents. This year, David and I decided to get each member of his family a wireless digital photo frame. I have to admit, I was a little bit nervous about giving everyone the same present -- you could see how that could backfire, with someone being offended about not getting an original, just-tailored-to-their-needs, special kind of present, right? But David felt that this was the perfect idea for his family, especially given how into photos and pictures his parents are. So that's what we went with.
Donald opening his frame; Iain opening his;
Dad setting up the parents' larger frame
Turns out, it really was the perfect present. :) The frames are all wireless-compatible, which means that they'll stream photos uploaded to a central album. So we can all take pictures, upload them to a family Flickr account, and they'll stream on all of the frames -- in Indiana, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. How cool is that?
David and I got a bunch of loot, too. :) The little kid in me was excited to see that the two largest presents under the tree were for me... And then the grown-up in me was thrilled with the serving platters they contained! The lack of large serving platters was the major weakness in our current entertaining setup, so these presents were perfect. We can't wait to host our next big dinner! We also got a bunch of DVDs from Donald, the family art film lover, and a number of books. All in all, a terribly adult set of Christmas presents. :)
Christmas dinner included a set of Christmas crackers -- another tradition I associate with Britain and Dickens. (Can you tell that I love the fact that I married into a Scottish-American family?)
We both had a great time out in Indy for Christmas. It was great to have the whole family together!
David and I got a bunch of loot, too. :) The little kid in me was excited to see that the two largest presents under the tree were for me... And then the grown-up in me was thrilled with the serving platters they contained! The lack of large serving platters was the major weakness in our current entertaining setup, so these presents were perfect. We can't wait to host our next big dinner! We also got a bunch of DVDs from Donald, the family art film lover, and a number of books. All in all, a terribly adult set of Christmas presents. :)Christmas dinner included a set of Christmas crackers -- another tradition I associate with Britain and Dickens. (Can you tell that I love the fact that I married into a Scottish-American family?)
Proudly displaying the crowns included in the Christmas crackers
We both had a great time out in Indy for Christmas. It was great to have the whole family together!
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