Post Christmas Saturday

 Yesterday I was so happy to have two of the guys planted on the sofa.  They were playing games, texting, checked out but still, on the sofa, at home.  There was some Wii golfing, baseball, tennis and bowling too.  

I made a fat boy breakfast, more chex party mix and Hubby made kettle corn.  

So, they stayed.

 Meanwhile, I started to take down Christmas decorations.  It started in the kitchen, suddenly I could not take one more minute of clutter.  It went from there...  Until everything was down except for the trees, the eddie bauer snow globes and the wreaths.  It is going to stay that way for a few days.

I'm not ready for the lights to be gone and the darkness of January.

 Hawley sat by the fire.  Hubby helped me, played Wii with the guys and eventually made me a g & t.

 I have a head cold.  Of course.  Christmas always ends badly for me.  I push and push until I get rundown and the germs attack.  If I drink an alka-seltzer cold plus as soon as I get up it's all good.  This morning I waited until it was too late.  It's catching up now.  Take two excedrine + alka-seltzer PLUS =  a functioning  cold vs. a non-functioning/laying on the sofa cold.  No one paid me to share this cure for the common cold symptoms.  Trust me.  I don't get paid to write this stuff.  Oh, and I am not a doctor.

Besides drugs for the common cold I have Hubby, who ironed our sheets and pillowcases yesterday.   You know how when you have a cold even your skin hurts?  Clean, crisp bed linens really help alleviate that cold symptom.  Yep, he's the best.

 In the mess of taking down Christmas I am trying to organize by bin.

 The landing doesn't appear to be very organized now but there is a method to my madness.

And there is a narrow path through the chaos.

By next week all that will be left are the blooming paper whites.  I am not putting anything back on the walls or on the flat surfaces until I have painted a few rooms and cleaned every square inch of the house.

Lofty goals here at the Stone House.  I'll keep you posted...

A Cook-A-Rama

 Max wanted me to make him some casseroles to bring to Walla Walla for his and Thomas' freezer.  Max always wants enchiladas.  Always.  I think they are one of my least favorite things to make but I love the kid so we made two big pans of beef and bean enchiladas.  He helped by running to the grocery store, grating cheese, mixing sauces and being sassy.  An entertaining afternoon for me, thanks to Max.

We made the enchiladas and a pan of ham and rice with broccoli casserole and a double batch of potato casserole.  Max and Thomas sometimes go to friends for dinner so they'll share the potato casserole when they have friends over for ribs in January.

 The potatoes didn't all fit in one pan so I froze a small loaf pan for Hubby and I to enjoy later.

The pan was so tiny Max wondered why we even bother.  Honestly, with the two of us there will probably be left overs.  There will be no leftovers with Max and Thomas.

A Good Time Was Had by All

I'm sure I spent some time in the kitchen this holiday season but the pictures are of guys in the kitchen.

 Christmas Eve we were at home with Sam and Angela and Max.  Hubby helped in the kitchen.  We had Chicken Saltimbocca, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli, snow salad with berries and creme brulee for dessert.  It was a quiet night.

 Christmas morning we went to church, then Sam and Angela left to celebrate with her family and Hubby went to bed.  He had worked all night.  The snow started falling to give us a white Christmas.  I love snow so I thought that was the best present ever until Mike G. showed up with fresh tamales.  Best.  Ever.

Max and I watched A Christmas Story in the afternoon.  Hubby woke up and we went to Bill and Jodi's place for dinner.  Pioneer Woman's potatoes, a BAH (big a** ham), a deep fried turkey and other delicious sides and cream pies for dessert.

Hana took our pictures with the new hand held Wii and we each had our wii character created.  The likeness is uncanny.  Danny, Derek and Sam weren't there but we made one for them anyway.  My Mom thinks this is as close as she'll get to having a family picture with everyone there ever again.

Before we left I had a little fun with their elf and Hana's glasses.

We had a nice Christmas but we missed Danny and Jess this year.  It's just not the same.

Today was back to work and laundry and tidying up the place.

Merry Christmas

The Faster I Go The Behinder I Get Or Something Like That

On Friday evening we had our annual Christmas party at my folks' house with my siblings and nieces and nephews.  We were late.  My dip wasn't baked, I felt like I was forgetting something and I just couldn't get it together.  That said, in spite of me, it was fun.

I stole some pictures from my sister because I could not get my camera set properly.

Alex was the BiG left right center winner this year!  Of course, his Dad is suddenly very close to him.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Sam and Max built a fire for Grandma in the afternoon.

 This was the epic fail of the evening... No surprise here, it involved yours truly.  I had my brother's name, I presented his gift.  If you have someones name you present their present.  I uhmmm, I gave him the wrong gift.  I snatched it back, apologized profusely, and promised to bring him his gift on Christmas Day.  It was a stocking stuffer for one of my guys.  I had some gifts wrapped at a local store and evidently I got them confused...

Not a good picture of me, not a good moment for me.

Christmas Fail.

 Everyone else was quite sane and had a nice party.

The grand kids and all of the friends they bring to my folks for Sunday dinner got together and gave them a special card with a substantial Costco gift card.  They were really touched.

 Saturday was a blur of funerals for Hubby and me.  

In the evening Vern and Shelly, Mark and Karen and Braden came over for PumPkin caRVING pARTY  only it was Christmas and we didn't carve pumpkins.  Shelly, Karen and I made the guys' favorite appetizers and then we grilled them.  No.  Not the appetizers.  The guys.  We want to know how the army and college is going for them so they get grilled.

I have no pictures of that event, it was a lot of fun and the food was crazy good!

Tonight we watched the Seattle Seahawks WIN again and WIN BiG!  I just love winning and hanging out with our guys.

 Super casual snacks and treats tonight.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, I have Creme Brulee in the oven, my menu planned, chicken thawing and am going to try to stay ahead of the game.  So far, I haven't done very well this year...

Hubby just asked, why I was thawing pork chops?  Sheesh.  Get out the stinkin' chicken and let's try this again.

Best Christmas Tradition Ever

 Last evening I enjoyed one of my favorite Christmas traditions.  The Sheryl, Shelly, Doreen, Tami Christmas dinner.  It starts at someones house, last night it was Sheryl's turn.  We enjoy a champagne cocktail, pictures in front of the fireplace and then we leave for dinner.  We take turns driving, Doreen was our driver last night which means it's my turn next year, we go by birthday order.  Or anyone that is pregnant has to drive.

I think that ship has sailed.  Hope so.

 We have dinner at the Black Forest in Bellingham and some of us order the same meal every year.

 We share dessert and then we open gifts.

We all talk at once.

We laugh constantly.

We love this tradition.

Since 1983 I have been blessed with this special Christmas tradition.  I have been blessed by these friends since church nursery, play dates as preschoolers and kindergarten.

Love the tradition and love the friends!

Two Parties, A Mani and A Pedi, Shopping Completed and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Well, maybe not a partridge in a pear tree, but there is definitely a squirrel in the fig tree.  An evil squirrel chewing our Christmas lights off the strand.   Shocking?   I hope so, I really do.

Yesterday was a big day for me.  I went to boot camp, ran errands in town and then drove to Bellingham to finish my Christmas shopping at Lowes, Joann's Fabric, Bellis Fair Mall, Target, and Micheals.  I think I am finished shopping.  {Squeal}

Then I went to A Christmas Party, Party of Two, please! with Emily.  It was our annual pedicure party.  Emily tripped in right behind me.  We laughed, got caught up, had our toes painted a glittery Christmas red.  A wonderful seasonal tradition with Miss K.  We didn't ask for any pictures to be taken, neither of us are making December Daily albums this year.  Last year the girl that was trying to take our photo kept taking shots of her eyeball instead of us.  We giggled and snorted over that incident and decided not to repeat it.  I had a manicure and drove to my next party.

It was a holiday home tour/craft night with Shelly at Holly's Holiday Home.  Holly and Brian do beautiful work creating a winter wonderland at their house.  We toured, oohed and aahed and then got crafty.

 Shelly got busy with her cream silk shorts that she bought from Nordstroms in the 1980's and never wore... they are being recycled into a curtain valance.  Is that a recycle or an up cycle project?  Either way, it is turning out beautifully.  Whimsical even.

Holly had a bowl of burnt out bulbs.  They got a makeover with mod podge and Martha Stewart glitter.

I was crafting and sipping on a glass of wine.  It was difficult though, I kept getting distracted by Holly's Christmas decorations.

Meanwhile, Holly kept glittering and Shelly kept cutting up her shorts.

I made bookmarks.  I had received the green one as a gift.  With ribbon, beads and some baubles I quickly made four bookmarks.  I brought an easy project because I knew my attention span would be handicapped with wine sipping and Holly's pretty Christmas decor.  And it was.

 I used mod podge and ripped paper on a letter P.   I later glittered the edges.  It's part of a bigger project.  A much bigger project that involves many, many Pinterest projects and repainting half of our house.

I'm working on Christmas 2013.  Of course.  

Because I have nothing better to do before December 25, 2012.  Bahhahaha.

And then I was distracted by Holly's cabinet.  Again.

Holly gave us a bag of glittery bulbs to take home.  Shelly and I were happy that Holly shared with us.  We learned a valuable lesson... to save our burnt out bulbs.  Is that a recycle or upcycle project?

Today Sam flies in from Fort Bragg.  

But it's not going well, his flight was delayed so he missed the next flight in Charlotte, NC.

Today Max drives home over Snoqualmie Pass.

But it's not going well, there is a lot of snow.

Thus begins the Christmas Travel 2012 Saga.

Max will get to Seattle way too early to wait for Sam.

Sam doesn't know when he is arriving, besides later than planned.

Max is going to just come home.

Sam will get booked on the Airporter to get to Lynden.

Which he does NOT like, at all.

It's never easy to travel at Christmas

Praying for safety, patience and that we can make it worth their while.

I'm cooking a big pot of split pea soup and baking some bread for dinner.

They love that combination.  I hope they get here for dinner...

A ReALLY BIG WeeKeND

Hubby and I had dinner with friends on Friday evening to celebrate my birthday.  I was fussed over and spoiled.  Saturday evening we went to the Black Forest to celebrate my brother's 50th birthday.  On Sunday Hubby and I hosted the Dykstra Christmas party.

Whew, I think I need a diet and a nap!

For the party on Sunday I found old pictures of our Christmas parties, starting in 1958, and some pictures of our grandparents before that time, which I used as centerpieces.  We had a good time looking at the old pictures.  I never knew I looked like my Grandma Clara until it was pointed out to me yesterday.

I didn't get any photos of the kids yesterday because they were busy playing and hitting the Christmas goodies table.  

We saw pictures with Cranberry Fluff on the table from many years ago.  Our menu is the same every year.  Turkey, ham, meatballs, potato casseroles, cranberry fluff, hot vegetables, fruit trays, veggie trays and rolls.  For dessert everyone brings Christmas goodies including ollie bollen, almond tarts, cookies and bars.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

Today I am going to complete my Christmas shopping, drink a lot of Emergen C, and go to two parties!

Tomorrow Sam and Max come home for Christmas, providing Snoqualmie Pass stays open and Max can drive over the pass.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!