One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly. ~Andy Rooney
Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!
Friday was only an “official’ half day at work. That actually meant that we all showed up, put in an appearance and got the ok to head out. THANK GOODNESS!……because I had tons to get done. In the afternoon I drove Edward to Alice, TX for a bid opening and while we were there we stopped by to see Vanessa and the girls. Well, it turned out that they were waiting for her Mom to arrive to bring them to Corpus. So they cancelled that ride and we loaded everyone in the truck to head home. It’s always a crazy ride with the girls in the truck. This trip Lilly had to ride next to me in the front seat and that made driving an extra joy. She kept reaching over to ‘help drive’ until she finally fell asleep on my shoulder.
The weather on Christmas Eve sure felt Christmasey! It was cold and rainy and fantastic!!!!!!! I spent the day prepping all the food for Christmas brunch and getting the house ready for guests. My official rule all of my adult life is that all Christmas preperations MUST be complete by noon Christmas Eve. I do that because that way there is time to slow up and enjoy the day instead of running like a crazy person through it.
I didn’t make it this year. By noon we had a last-minute run to find tamales for a traditional dinner. After that was done we stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. (Carb loading for Christmas!) On the way home Edward asked that we stop at the mall and he took me into Dillards……walked me to cosmetics and said “pick out a new perfume”. Awwww……….another gift!!! I selects Este Lauder Pleasures at his recommendation and I just love it! It smells so fresh and clean!
Christmas Eve Edward and I attended services at Galilean Lutheran Church for the third year in a row. This year was supposed to be Catholic services but Edward decided that perhaps kneeling wouldn’t be a good idea for him. As it turned out he even got a chair with arms at church which was great! It was a nice service (even if Edward’s archenemies was there).
It was raining pretty steady when we left church and it was really chilly. We commented on the way home that we really don’t mind yucky weather for Christmas because it makes it feel like it is supposed too. Plus we can light the fireplace and wear sweaters.
After dinner we decided to get a jump on Santa and exchanged our gifts to each other. I gave Edward an exercise bike last week that he really enjoys. But he also got a gift certificate for a massage and a new weather station for the house.
Edward gave me a wonderful gift! A Kindle Fire!!!!! It’s great and wonderful fun. Plus he included gift cards so I spend a good chunk of the night downloading books and other stuff onto it. I think this Kindle and I will be great friends! 🙂
We stayed up too last on Saturday night enjoying our toys and each other so the time to get up came pretty quickly. We showered and started all the food cooking for brunch.
Edward was in his usual place on Christmas morning……….in the garage frying bacon and sausage……lol. We don’t want the whole house to smell like bacon now do we????? I poured myself a nice mimosa and put the ham casserole and hash brown casserole in the oven. Then I made a HUGE batch of homemade buttermilk pancakes. They are so much better when you cook from scratch. A log in the fireplace, all the candles lit and we were ready for Christmas to begin!
Everything was finished and ready for eating when the troops began landing. We are blessed with a fairly good-sized house but putting all those extra people in it (Especially some excited hyped up little ones) sure makes it feel small in a hurry. You should have seen Emilio’s face when I served him orange juice in a “Red Solo Cup”…….lol. He even broke out into song! It was hysterical.
After everyone finished eating it was time for the gift exchange. Chaos ensued! Guilianna loved to help open the gift bags, her job was to pull the tissue paper out and she did that with great joy. She was also pretty annoyed that she couldn’t crawl properly in her pretty Christmas dress. It was pretty funny. Lucky for her though there were plenty of people happy to carry her around! Lilly was as charming and excited as ever. She made sure to show Little Edward and Emilio where all the toys are in Popo’s house and where they could go to watch a movie without the grownups.
Everyone seemed to like their gifts and it was a nice time to have everyone together.
And now some obligatory Christmas pictures:
Eventually everyone moved on to their next stops for the day and we got everything cleaned up. I put the ham in the oven for Christmas dinner and laid down for a nap. A much-needed nap. With all the planning and prep work I hadn’t been sleeping well the last few nights,( I woke up a 100x and each time I was running a list of to-do’s in my head) I was pretty tired this afternoon!
The remainder of the day we relaxed. It was a nice quiet day. I read my Kindle a lot and checked out all of it’s exciting features. We had a late dinner (which was so much less complicated than brunch)and I cleaned up the kitchen for one last time (after 15,987,389 clean ups in the last week) I’m now wrapping up the night watch “The Princess Bride”…….it’s been a wonderful Christmas.
Part of me always hates to see Christmas over……part of me is glad that I can unwind a little bit……but all of me is filled with love in my heart for the people who bless my life and give me so much joy. Life is good.
Merry Christmas to everyone!!!!
PS: If you weren’t aware of the “Red Solo Cup” song…..here you go! Enjoy!
Living Apple-y Ever After........ 