Tuesday, December 24th, we accomplished the final little things to be ready for company. We have a Viking Santa cookie jar that Lynette Drysdale, Claude's sister, gave us a few years ago. I baked chocolate chip cookies to fill it in the morning. Happily, I did all of it until it came time to add the pecans and chocolate chips to the thick dough. My arm could not do that. Claude was sitting at the counter watching me work and he was ready to step in and mix all that together for me. I was very happy my arm did as much as it did. Progress!
Usually we have smoked brisket on Christmas Eve. This year, Claude was just not up do smoking another brisket. We had a delicious pan of homemade lasagna. He did an excellent job. The proof of its goodness was the two small containers of left over he put in the frig were eaten Christmas day my Michael and Andie. After dinner, Bailey covered her grandfather up in a lot of blankets. I count at least three.
We enjoyed a quiet Christmas Eve.
Time for breakfast. We found a video clip on Facebook prior to Christmas about making a cinnamon roll Christmas tree out of canned cinnamon rolls. We had canned cinnamon rolls and canned orange rolls. This would be our breakfast. The problem was that the cinnamon rolls would not unwind. We would have had a much easier time with the orange rolls unwinding. We did the best we could. It was delicious. The video had colored sprinkles and things decorating the cinnamon rolls. We opted to not add that additional sugar and mess. The little cup of icing that comes in the can was plenty.
At noon, we did an hour long video call with the Tyler's, Jake, Hayden and all of us in Georgetown. It was a delight. Jake kept trying out new backgrounds. Andie found his background and make ours the same. It was good to catch up with family.
We enjoyed a quiet Christmas Eve.
Wednesday, December 25th, we were up and ready to open presents by 9am. How nice it is when the kids get older and you are not up at 5am!! Here are a few pictures of opening presents.
First the opening of stockings. The Marx family always has stockings however they are now using bags. They also provide Claude and I each a little stocking treat. 1) Bailey, 2) Claude, 3) Andie and Michael and 4) Claude holding up my turtle chips from the Marx's.
Then we opened presents. Bailey pulled them all out from under the tree and carefully made sure we took turns opening gifts. 1) Claude opens ditty bag from Sandi, 2) turtle sandbox ornament from the Marx to Sandi, 3) Claude in cap from Tyler's, 4) Bailey opens LYO ornament from her parents, 5) Andie opens Little Golden Book about the Kelce brothers, 6) Andie and Michael open heating pads from Claude and Sandi, 7) Bailey opens Taylor Swift Mad Libs from her parents, 8) Bailey opens Taylor Swift necklace from Claude and Sandi, and 9) Sandi opens cardinal puzzle from the Tyler's. Time for breakfast. We found a video clip on Facebook prior to Christmas about making a cinnamon roll Christmas tree out of canned cinnamon rolls. We had canned cinnamon rolls and canned orange rolls. This would be our breakfast. The problem was that the cinnamon rolls would not unwind. We would have had a much easier time with the orange rolls unwinding. We did the best we could. It was delicious. The video had colored sprinkles and things decorating the cinnamon rolls. We opted to not add that additional sugar and mess. The little cup of icing that comes in the can was plenty.
At noon, we did an hour long video call with the Tyler's, Jake, Hayden and all of us in Georgetown. It was a delight. Jake kept trying out new backgrounds. Andie found his background and make ours the same. It was good to catch up with family.
Katelyn sent us pictures of the great grands in the hats with the pump up ears and their books we got them in Solvang that are by Hans Christian Anderson. (Emelia, Kennedi, Raelyn and Joel). How cute are they?!?!
I have posted before about our daily Trivial Pursuit questions. I have been doing three Christmas questions the last half of December. On Christmas Day, Raelyn sent a video of her answering the question "What mode of transportation is the Polar Express?" How fun to have the little ones answer one of the questions.We would have ham, funeral potatoes, broccoli and bacon salad and rolls for dinner. Claude was not feeling well. He is trying to get his dosage of Ozempic right. He laid down for a bit. At 3pm, I got the ham in the pan and in the oven. Claude woke up and went back to his kitchen duty. He found the oven on FIRE!! It seems the brown sugar glaze packet stuck to the ham. As the juices from the ham filled the baking pan and dripped over, the brown sugar glaze packet fell to the bottom of the oven and landed on the electric coils. The fire was the result. I smelled the drippings in the bottom of the oven and got up to check. My poor hubby was trying to get the fire out. Ironically, the Marx's gave us a blanket to throw over a fire to put it out. Michael went to get it. We have a liner on the bottom of the oven to catch spills. Claude was able to take the meat fork and lift the electric coil up while I pulled the liner with the burning pile of yuck on it out of the bottom of the oven. It all cleaned up fine. Doors were open and ceiling fans were turned on. Thank heavens the temperature outside was 60 degrees!! What is Christmas without a little excitement, right?
In the evening, sweet Jessie Carter called me to wish me a Merry Christmas. She is such a delight. After talking with her, I talked with Laura for a bit. Love this family so very much.
The cardinal Christmas puzzle was brought out and Andie and Michael helped me get it put together. Alas, there was one piece missing. Ugh. We searched high and low and could not find it. More on that later.
We got a video call from Emelia, which her mother did not know she was doing. It was cute and fun.
Thursday, December 26th, the Marx family left in the morning. Claude and I put the few things back in order and plopped ourselves back down to watch Psyche while I worked on the Frank Lloyd Write 1000 piece puzzle I bought during the summer. I was a delightfully relaxed day after Christmas.
Friday, December 27th, was another Psyche day. I finished the Frank Lloyd Wright puzzle. It rained off and on all day. A good day to be inside. The Marx family headed to Chicago to visit Hayden and then bring him home on Sunday for a few days. When getting close to the end of this puzzle, I felt a puzzle piece fall to my lap and then to the floor. I reached under the table and found it was the missing piece from the cardinal puzzle!! How in the world that happened, I will never know. But I was very happy it fell and I found it.
Saturday, December 28th, I awoke early and did my home PT. When Claude got up, I started the laundry. We curled up one more day to watch Psyche.
Sunday, December 29th, Claude woke up with his stomach growling. He is not sick. We are really sure he needs to go back to the lower dose of Ozempic. He stayed home and went back to bed. I went to church and enjoyed Sacrament meeting and a terrific Relief Society lesson.
In the evening, we had tickets for our 12th and Final Date of Christmas. We would have dinner at Firehouse Subs. Then head to the Lexington Opera House to enjoy Mannheim Steamroller. It was excellent as usually. We had great seats in the Mezzanine level on the second row from the edge. We really like sitting up a little high and watching from the perspective. I got a kick out of the man playing the harpsicord in sneakers. I am just sure Mozart would have loved playing in sneakers!!
When we got home, I changed into my Christmas gift from Claude. This is one comfy and warm...I'm not sure what to call it! It is like a really long night shirt made out of very soft blanket material. It pulls on like a t-shirt and wraps you in a big hug!We got a video call from Emelia, which her mother did not know she was doing. It was cute and fun.
Hayden sent up texts to set up us picking him up on Monday afternoon in preparation for our New Year's tradition.
Now, on to get in 2025!!