Monday, December 28, 2020

O.k., now Winter Break Can slow down….

How was your Christmas? Ours was really nice – I would say it was simple and just right for us for this year. After having the boys gone from August 14-November 20, it was a good year to have a quiet couple of days with just the four of us, you know?

On Christmas Eve morning, I had one more little grocery trip to do. I had made a big Click List order for a few days before this but there always seem to be a couple of things I forget. Oh well – I was in and out of Kroger in a couple of minutes. After I got home, my sister in law dropped off gifts for the boys and Ale 8 One for Tom and Prosecco for me. Yum!

It was super cold on Christmas Eve with a winter weather advisory! We watched a movie we had been wanting to watch in the basement in the afternoon called Serenity. We had just completed a show called Firefly as a family and this was the movie made after the show ended.

I made popcorn and Christmas nachos for the basement. The only thing that makes them Christmas nachos is the red and green chips!

I also assembled apps for our dinner/game playing later that evening. I did the ham and swiss sliders,

the cream cheese and red pepper jelly with wheat thins,

the mini bagel, veggie cream cheese, cucumber bites, as well.

Movie time in the basement:

The movie ended around 5 and we did a family Ernie walk. The boys walked really fast because it was the coldest it had been so far!

Then, the boys opened their Eve pajamas (they just get pj pants now) and our family gift of a game this year was Monopoly Deal. This allows you to play a much quicker version and only requires this deck of cards. It was pretty fun.

I set out all the apps and added the tomato and mozz balls, and the beef and cream cheese rollups. I like cream cheese in my apps in case you were wondering.

And, I had little smokies in the little crockpot with grape jelly and chili sauce. Pink meringues were for dessert! I didn’t end up baking a bunch this year. We received lots of chocolate in our stockings and then I made peanut butter balls and pink meringues and I felt like that was enough.

We played the game and then the boys went down to the basement to hang out and I went to bed fairly early. Tom stayed up to watch t.v. for a bit.

Christmas morning I drank some coffee and read a bit – still got up around 6. I made a new recipe called bubble up casserole. It involves canned biscuit dough on the bottom. It turned out really good – eggs, milk, biscuit dough, green chilies, cheese, and sausage (already cooked).

And, a monkey bread done cinnamon roll style – so good! I don’t think I want to make the traditional monkey bread anymore because I loved this version so much.

I always arrange the stockings and the presents in the morning – the upside to having older kids is that they sleep later! Jack got up around 9, though, because that boys loves Christmas the most, I think. He and I talked for a bit and then he woke Mason and Tom up. His big gift was hidden because the shape would give it away! It doesn’t look like they got much, but they did. Plus, as the kids get older the presents get smaller – and more expensive!

I had a bourbon hot chocolate and…

a mimosa and it was so exciting to have our first white Christmas in such a long time! We woke up to barely an inch and then we had some more flurries during the day.

I loved what the boys gave me. Mason gave me this super soft brown infinity scarf and Jack gave me the buffalo plaid poncho.

Ernie loved his new toy in his stocking.

Jack was super surprised.

I decided to be casual and comfortable in my leggings.

We played a new board game that Jack got called Root. Mason’s big gift was new headphones and Bluetooth receiver so he can listen to his records in the whole house. I forgot to get a picture. They were thrilled with all of their gifts – big and small. They got some clothes, Crest white strips, new guitar pics, new pens, journals, Mason got a zen garden (sand and rake), and other little things. I think I did pretty well. I did all the smaller stuff and Tom did the big things. Mason immediately opened the zen garden and put in his bedroom. He also put on his new sweatshirt. It is so sweet to see 18 year olds still get excited and be so appreciative. We got lots of thank yous.

Tom and I just filled each other’s stockings with chocolate and magazines and didn’t do gifts this year. This year we made a pact to not do anything else because of our Master bath.

The game Root:

This game is hard and we had to read and study!

After the game, I slipped away to watch a bit of Bridgerton by myself.. Not sure what I think yet… Anyone else watch?

Then, around 5 we had our ham, rolls, mac and cheese, potato casserole, brussels sprouts, broccoli and watched a show together after.

It was a really nice two days. We did not do church on Eve because we had wanted to do the parking lot service but decided it was too cold. It was not a stay in your car thing. At times, I felt like it was a normal Christmas because we do have a lot of time that is just the four of us. And, like I said, it was even more meaningful this year after having the boys gone for college.

Tom’s parents were supposed to do a quick visit on Christmas Day but they postponed because of the snow and roads where they live – about 1.5 hours away. My mom went to my little sister’s house on Wednesday and stayed through the weekend. My sister and her family had been isolated at home for about a week by that time.

I did a lot of cooking but I love that! I was disappointed in our Thanksgiving meal that we bought and knew I wanted to cook more for Christmas so that goal was accomplished.

I hope yours was just what you needed for this crazy year. I know lots of people struggled and just wanted to the day to be over. What was the highlight for you? Did you find some good in this crazy year?

Thanks for reading! Come back tomorrow for a more life lately! I also have best books of 2020 and thoughts on 2020 coming your way this week!

Amy