Morning, and MERRY CHRISTMAS! Hey, I do believe this is my first Christmas on the MMP.
Just getting some last minute things done before heading over to the in-laws for the usual Christmas do. This year there will be about 20 people under one roof and festival seating for the feast. Got the pies baked, the cards sealed and the gifts wrapped, bagged and ready for transport. Now we just wait for our ride.
No new snowfall for the festive day, but there’s still enough on the ground to count, and heck, it’s the whitest Christmas we’ve had in a few years. (Last year was all green, not a flake of snow from horizon to horizon.)
Winchester, but you were close. He doesn’t get to play with Superman much anymore, because he pulled out most of his Kryptonian Polyfill, and Superman is close to defeat. As is every other stuffed toy we’ve ever given him. The Christmas Cow is already bleeding fluff from his face. But I think in total, he got more presents than I did.
But Roomie gave me all three seasons of Wonder Woman. I know what I’m doing today.
They have that name because they’re supposed to be as big as a cat’s head. Unfortunately, while they tasted just fine, I wound up with a batch of A-cup biscuits instead. :mad:
The jousting knights look cool, they might be my delayed Santa gift to me. Our living room is full of DVD’s, CD’s, booze and booze related things.
We will now commence the rest of the day, which mostly includes lying about being useless, except for moi, who gets to make dinner. Dinner only being baked mostacioli, though, so it’s not like real work. Oh, and sausage. And garlic bread. And salad.
On tap, at minimum will be: The Christmas Story (a mandatory movie for all today), The Simpson’s movie, and then some rousing Scene It competitions later after dinner, when I anticipate the Wife busting out the rum, limes and mint and putting her new Mojito shaker to the test.
Santa was fairly good to me and the family, but I still have more gifts coming this afternoon. I don’t know what those will be.
So far, I’ve racked up a very nice camera, a robe, a $50.00 Borders gift card, and an umbrella that is compact, yet opens to golf sized. Perfect for my long slog from the parking lot to my office.
The kids loved their gifts, and to me, that was the most important part of the day. I tried to video my dog opening his present (a stuffed squeaky squirrel), but, that dog would not cooperate. He just pranced around the house with the wrapped gift. Funny thing, though, he knew exactly which gift was his. As soon as Mr. Taters pulled it out from under the tree, Cap’n trotted over with his tail wagging and sat. We gave it to him, and I spent a good 10 minutes trying get him to unwrap the gift while the video camera was on. As soon as I set the camera down, he commenced to rip up the packaging. :rolleyes: Oh well, maybe next year.
I’ll have to get the roast in the oven soon. Additionally, I still need to take a shower. I’m just trying to take advantage of the peace before the madness descends on my house at three o’clock.
Just got back from Mass. I went to the Korean one because my brother really wanted me to hear his choir sing. They were actually pretty good. Listening to them made me miss my own choir days. Maybe I’ll check out one of the local churches next week.
I think Biddy (Cloud Maiden’s cat) likes my singing. She’s not fond of the guitar, but lately I’ve noticed that whenever I sing without the guitar she follows me around and meows along. Nice to have an appreciative audience!
I’ve been without regular access to internet for a year and a half now, and getting reconnected was sort of my Solstice present to myself. I will fill you all in on what’s been going on sometime later this week, as I don’t want to drag down everyone else on Christmas day. It’s been great seeing all of the usual “faces” and some nice new ones, as well.
I am in my jammies, and headed for sleep. I’m too full, too tired and too something else (dunno what). Overall, it was an ok Xmas. The letdown was as horrible this year because a few good things happened: #1 son got me a thoughtful gift. #2 son, thrilled to pieces that he got a “real” present* from #1 son, ran over and gave his big brother a big hug. That was really nice. #1 son was great–hugged him right back and said you’re welcome etc. Made mama feel good, that did. Work in the morning–0530. Gack.
*he got a computer game from #1 son, instead of a cheap toy from the dollar store (kids have to buy gifts with their own money).
Merry Christmas everyone!!! We went to church in the morning with Local Best Friend and baby, have talked to pretty much the entire family, had blueberry pancakes (with yummy blueberry sauce) for breakfast. Went for a walk too. Quiet but very nice.
Welcome back Wallflower. More later tonight or sometime tomorrow.
All in all, it’s been a pretty good day. PieMom gave me a month’s worth of Car payment! And it couldn’t have come at a better time because I’m about $1200 short on bills for December. It will definitely be a big help. TVMan and I are here in PieLand. It suddenly occured to me that he is the first guy that I’ve *ever * brought home to dinner. :eek: Everything went well in that regard until he started telling my grandparents about his son’s pranks which involved making one light up reindeer look like it was ‘amorously involved’ with another. I punched him enough that he got the hint and altered his story. PieDad knew what I was doing and cracked up.
Ok, back to watching The Incredibles.
Oh, and one more thing even though he’s not here, I’d like to send out a special Merry Christmas to Noone Special, wherever he is. May he and his family have a wonderful day!
I’m a tired little Rebo, I am. Next year we’re going out for freakin’ Christmas dinner, I swear! I just had to much to make. I even made a list of times to do stuff - down to 5 minute increments. It was very good though, if I do say so myself!
Christmas presents were fun, though. Mr Rebo was getting annoyed, 'cuz I got him more things than he got me. But my stuff cost more, plus I like to give stuff! He got me a very pretty bracelet, and the new Stephen King “graphic novel,” and some jammy bottoms. Which I am currently wearing, and they are comfy! And a 365-puppies-for-every-day calendar! (And he rubbed my feet after everyone left. Such a good Mr Rebo!)
It was fun, all in all. See y’all tomorrow! (I’ll be back at work. <sigh>)
I can’t sleep, even though I will be up at 4:00, so I might as well post this.
I will definitely be glad when this year is over. The first half wasn’t bad: Hubby and I celebrated 20 years of marriage at the end of June. His 46th birthday was supposed to be July 27th, but on July 25th he passed away instantly from a massive heart attack. No warning, no signs of heart disease, nothing. He was a very generous person, and whenever the subject came up, we both agreed that if something happened to either of us, we would donate whatever parts could be used. Since he wasn’t in a hospital on life support at death, they couldn’t use any of his internal organs (not a surprise to me), but what did surprise was how much they actually could use. Quite a bit has changed in transplant technology in the last 10 years, I guess. My Mom had been wonderful through all of this.
I’m in the process of trying to rebuild my life, and I’m doing mostly ok, but Christmas was always the #1 holiday for us and I’m having a bad week.
I had been trying to decide if I wanted to fix up the car I had, or trade it in on a slightly newer car. So, I fixed it up, to the tune of $1800 (a little bit cheaper than replacing it). Exactly one week to the day after getting it back, an 88 year old woman wasn’t paying attention and drove right through a stop sign into my drivers side front wheel. Totaled. I have temporary use of my Moms car until the check comes from her Insurance company. Right now it seems to be stuck in Christmas snail mail hell.
Well, the Christmas gathering is officially over. The feast was good. Turkey, stuffing, garlic mashed N.O.T., Waikiki balls, three bean salad and coleslaw. For dessert there was an assortment as well: My apple and mincemeat pies, as well as punkin pie, an assortment of home baked cookies and truffles, and some sort of “Holiday Wreath” thingie that consisted of half chocolate cake, half chocolate mousse, and covered with a chocolate coating. I’m not a big fan of that sort of thing though. (I loves me some chocolate, and chocolate cake is fine, but chocolate icing doesn’t do it for me, nor that artificial or semisweet stuff.)
The haul was good: A very nice 10-piece set of set of T-Fal cookware (we really needed new cookware), a nice Hamilton Beach mixer with milkshake attachment (yes! Now I can make proper orange shakes!), a somewhat unusual floor lamp with knick knack shelves (heavy sucker), a 7" digital picture frame from MindWife’s BIL pre-loaded with the last 2-years worth of pictures of his son from birth to present (am I the only one that finds that slightly weird?), a Tim Horton’s mug filled with a $10 Timmy’s card (knew that was coming; her aunt is a franchise owner), a pile of socks (always need socks) and two corduroy shirts (why oh why couldn’t corduroy stay buried in the 70s?), a perfume gift bag thingy for MindWife and a couple of curios for our recently acquired curio cabinet. We also took home feast leftovers, plus we nicked a couple of Smirnoff mudslides for later tonight.
Her brother totally freakin’ spoiled his fiancée’s kids. He bought each of them (making three) an 8gb iPod Touch (I spent several hours jailbreaking and customizing them for the kids), plus one got a Casio Exilim digital camera, and he gifted himself with a Canon Rebel XT DSLR camera. His bonus this year must have been pretty freakin’ sweet…
I love his camera though. Now I really want a DSLR…
It’s good to be home and relaxing though. I’m beat.
Oh, my, Wallflower (I’m sure we had a nickname for you; I just can’t remember what it is…), I’m so sorry to hear about your husband! I know that holidays are always difficult when you’ve lost someone; hang in there.
My early Christmas present was a camera - not a fancy DSLR, just a point and shoot one; but it’s a step one from my old one.
He doesn’t get to play with Superman much anymore, because he pulled out most of his Kryptonian Polyfill, and Superman is close to defeat. As is every other stuffed toy we’ve ever given him. The Christmas Cow is already bleeding fluff from his face. But I think in total, he got more presents than I did. 
