Sorry I was MIA today...between real life here and spending waaaay too much time in Rite-Aid(it was Wellness Wednesday and there were oodles of deals to be had with the one day coupons this month!!!)there wasn't a lot of chance to be online.
Such is life some days.
I've got a few moments now before bed so I'll show you what Santa(and his assorted helpers)brought me for Christmas.
I already showed of pic of my garden snail stepping stone but above is the rest of my loot.
A pine-scented candle, a good book(well, we'll SEE if it's a good book once I commence to reading it lol), a bottle of sangria, an Ollie's gift card(all these were from Santa/Hubs), a tin of loose tea and local honey from Elder son, a Rite-Aid gift card from my Secret Santa person(which was Hubs), a mug and a mini bottle of liquor from brother and sister in-law(the steaks they ordered still haven't arrived)and a vintage '50s style photo/snarky magnet and luggage tag from Kim(along with the MOUNTAIN of Xmas cookies she sent....I think she's trying to fatten me up but the jokes on you Kim because I'm already fat!lolz).
The other stuff-kiddie scissors, a car air freshener, 2 peanut bars and the silicone tipped tongs were in my stocking.
Not a lot of stuff but then again, I don't NEED a lot of stuff, but it was all picked out just for me so it's all good and appreciated. 8-)))
I still need to do my To-Do List for December outcome post, my Christmas Spending Autopsy and something else I can't remember right now before I can wrap up 2018 and move on into 2019.
And of course like most of y'all it will be 3 months before I stop writing 2018 on my checks!..am I right?!? lolz
I'll be back on Thursday to yak at y'all some more.
Hubs and I got out a few times during the Holiday Season this year among the crowds.
Once was to Walmart to replace some broken outdoor lights.
While Hubs shopped I looked around the store............
I found this weiner dog stuffed plush decorated for Hanukkah in blue with a menorah strapped to his torso. lolz
At first this reindeer looked like a llama to me but as I got closer I saw it was a reindeer. I never did take a look at the price tag on it....and where for heaven's sake would you store it in the off season?!?!
Another day we went to a Tuesday Morning that opened this Summer near us..........
This was the most bizarre thing I saw in that store. It's a tiny electric fan that looks like a cricket.
This pillow was funny in a good way, not like that cricket fan.
I threatened to buy this for Hubs...............
I also saw this at Rite-Aid and thought about getting it for Daughter's dog.......
The dog has a stuffed poop squeaky toy she carried around and thinks it's her baby. I didn't buy this dancing and singing Xmas poop because the dog is so scared of everything, it would have traumatized her. lolz
I did buy this for Daughter to put on the tree though........
A poop Xmas ornament for Cinnamon. I'll inscribe it with her name and the year before they take it to LA this Spring.
And the poop got a place of honor on the tree, right between Daughter's "special" reindeer craft for 2nd grade and SpongeBob Square Pants ornie. lolz
We also hit The Christmas Tree Shop finally in December. It was right by the music shop we had to hit for guitar strings and picks for Ex-College Boy.
I couldn't believe some of the junk they sell. I guess some men are really, really hard to buy for....
I warned Hubs I needed to put this into his stocking, a "Snore Stopper". It's a plastic fist on a stick and you whack the snorer with it.....lolz But at $5 it wasn't worth that much of a laugh.
Last Friday, I went out to run a couple of errands and recorded this little video.....
The next day it was 30F......a 35 degree drop in temp but luckily no tornadoes this time. ;-)
On Christmas eve it snowed a bit............
Here's Cinnamon went I let her in after a trip out to potty.....little snowball like flakes. The dog is part Husky so she doesn't even feel it her fur is so thick. This dog lays out in the yard in the snow, rain, wind, you name it, in the dark and cold. She'd stay out there by herself if you didn't haul her in.
She is going to hate Louisiana when she goes back........
Christmas was the traditional dinner out at our local Chinese Restaurant. Just Hubs, I and Daughter this year as Ex-College Boy had to work until 8 pm, so we got him a to-go order.
Christmas Eve day was also spent lobbing in a phone call to Sonya Ann to gab for an hour or four. They aren't really "doing" Christmas there this year but she has her kids with her for the Holiday which was nice. We discussed many deep philosophical things and had a few good belly laughs over things. She is in a much better place( both physically and mentally)this Christmas. Her life with the asshole is finally done and she is free to craft the life she wants for herself. I am so thrilled for her!
And here is a gratuitous pic of Chester..........
He got a bath for Christmas and I've let his hair grow long for the Winter. He loved all the commotion and people in the house for Christmas.
We didn't get everyone up on Xmas morning until around 10am. It's so nice the kids are young adults now and we aren't up until 2 am putting together toys and then roused out of bed at 5 am. Ah, the good old days..Not! lolz
We opened gifts are a good breakfast..........
Ex-College Boy teased Chester with wrapping paper.
Chester was decked out in his "Santa's Little Helper" shirt. lolz
Hubs with his high end bag of coffee.
Daughter opening a gift wrapped in the Harry Potter paper I found at Dollar Tree(she was a HP fan).
Chester opening one of his gifts....a Licky Mat. I think he liked the gift wrap better than that gift. lolz
Cinnamon taking her jumbo rawhide bone candy cane.....notice Chester at the bottom of the picture.
And Cinnamon running away from Chester trying to take that rawhide bone from her. She carried it upstairs to her bed where she could chew on it in peace. ;-)
Here I am with a garden stone in the shape of a snail. Hubs and I saw this at Christmas Tree Shops and I wanted it so I pretended I didn't know he bought it for me until I unwrapped it Xmas morning.
It was on final clearance and cost $2 so a win/win!
Daughter got a cool crosbody purse from her BF. The smile said she liked it!
Kim sent Chester a little toy which he took to right away. He's been carrying it around for 3 days now in between trying to shake it to death and chew it up. lolz
Here is Hubs and Chester on Xmas. Chester got a new plastic pig toy(actually he got 2-one in pink and one in orange)and he is waiting patiently for daddy to take the tags of it so he can play with "Piggy".
Kim's box of goodies arrived on Christmas eve. Lots of cookies, a fruitcake, plus caramels and a book for Hubs, a luggage tag and sarcastic fridge magnet for me and that toy for Chester.
There was also this box for me........
Inside was a big, heavy decorated sugar cookie sitting on top of an inch thick bed of crumbs. But not cookie crumbs.....they looked like corn flake or Chinese noodle crumbs. We passed the box around and tried to figure out WTF?!? it was.
I finally realized there had "probably been those delicate Scandinavian rosette cookies you make on an iron rod, dipping into the batter and then deep frying them, cooling and coating with powdered sugar(I could see the 10X sugar residue on the sides of the box)in this box.
Either that or Kim had lost her mind somewhere in the last couple of weeks and had shipped me crushed up fried crunchy batter and cocaine in a box. lolz
No one here believed me about the cookies since other than way distant ancestry we aren't of Viking stock so we've never had these cookies before.
A call to Kim to see how her Christmas turned out(though she's not done celebrating the Holiday yet)confirmed that my hunch was right and they had been, at one time Rosette cookies. I will relish eating those crumbs now Kim.
But really......what voice in your head told you when you packed those cookies to make the journey from ID to PA that you should fill up that empty space at the top of the box with a substantial(and comparatively HEAVY)sugar cookie? LOLOLZ It just served as a battering ram in the box once the postal service got ahold of it and finished the pulverizing job. heheheh
Eldest and his GF arrived around noon on Christmas day as well as the Brother in-law and Nephew.
Daughter cooked most of the meal for me which was a nice change for me. I did still do the pies, cookies, deviled eggs(which we forgot until almost the end of dinner)and a new Brussels Sprouts and Radicchio Slaw dish(which everyone seemed to love). She did the ham, the potato rolls, mac and cheese and a pan of roasted veggies so the majority of the work.
We sat down to eat around 2pm and like the deviled eggs I almost forgot to take a picture of the whole dinner gang............
We opened a few more gifts, did the Secret Santa exchange then after BIL and nephew left and Hubs went to bed the kids and I played a few games on JackBox and the more they drank the more inappropriate the answers got.
I got to bed around 1am.
On Boxing Day we slept in(well, most of us did), we hung out and chilled until dinner time(though I did take a plate of cookies up to the Rite-Aid), then we headed off to Friendly's for one of the worst dinners out EVAH!, followed by a drive to the brew pub for drinks and bingo, however the brew pub was SRO so we just went home, drank there and played more JackBox(this time with Hubs too).
Eldest and his GF left early Thursday morning as she had work on Friday. At least I remembered to get a photo of them before they left. Wish they could have stayed longer but such is life.......
So that's been my holiday so far. Thursday was spent cleaning up, doing laundry and napping.
I hope everyone had some fun and made some memories this Christmas like we did. ;-)
I didn't ask for much from Santa(Hubs)as I don't really want much.
Here is what Sluggy got for Christmas..........
I asked for the Salt Lamp and the chocolate covered cashews(had to tell Hubs where exactly the cashews were(what shelf and aisle)in Rite-Aid otherwise I don't know WHAT he would have bought! lol
He put a bunch of cheap crap in my stocking(a dreidel game from the $ store??....really?lolz)but also a $50 Visa card. I can use that for sure.
The eldest gave me pine scented body lotion and a small box of chocolates. The other kids didn't give me anything but then again, they are broke college students. ;-)
About a week before Xmas I received a package with one of Lorraine's hand painted rocks in it. 8-)
Then on the Friday after Xmas the UPS man showed up with a package from Kim........
With her famous Pepperkrakke..........
Handmade Caramels and a DYI kit of some wax treated fabric(for making leftover covers for containers??). She enclosed a finished one to show me how to finish them off.
For a laugh I posted on Kim's facebook a photo of me in the shower cap she sent me but she's been too busy with life to see it there so I am putting it here. lololz
The "real" gift this Christmas was having all my kids home for the holiday for the first time in three years. Now that was the best gift ever! 8-)))
Like that quotable giant Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over until it's over."
And it's over.
Officially.
Christmas that is....
It was lowkey and simplified.
I never set foot in a Mall or WalMart beforehand so I am calling it a Successful Holidays!lol
#2 son loved his Beatles CDs....
Daughter oohed and aaahed over her 'fake' Uggs I picked up at that ridiculously great sale at 6pm.com for $9.99!.....
And #1 son seemed to gush over the Jack Daniels Zippo lighter his SECRET SANTA gave him.....
And the belly laugh award does to Daughter's SECRET SANTA, who packaged her $20 bill inside an Austin Powers Penis Enlarger.....
Yes, it was INSIDE of the gag gift enlarger and she had to 'extricate' it, all the while voicing her protest with many "ewwww"s.lolol
Here are a few of the gifties Sluggy received.
From my SECRET SANTA(who turned out to be #1 son)
And from the Hubs......"the book that is not to be named"....lol
If you are real nice to me McVal, I'll let you read it. ;-)
And also from #1 son/Secret Santa, I got this....
And I'll be sharing these pearls of human stupidity every day on the blog in the coming year.
I know all you readers are shivering with antici.......pation!
The BIL and Nephew came over for dinner mid afternoon.
I set out appetizers of crudities, cheese and sweet bologna cubes, crackers, chips, tortilla chips, salsa, 2 kinds of dip and a fruit plate.
After everyone mowed through that spread, I served Ravioli with Italian Sausage and Meatballs and homemade Sunday "Gravy", along with a very elaborate Salad and those TMF Pepperidge Farm rolls.
Many cookies and 2 kinds of pie followed later.
And here's the very full and happy crew.....
The day after Christmas we said goodbye to #1 son as he headed back to western PA on the bus. He has a job for the 3 weeks before school starts up again so he was only home 1 week. I miss him already.....
We basically just relaxed after he left and did a little cleaning up here and there. Hubs knee was paining him, Daughter is still sick with some sinus-y crud and my sinuses aren't feeling very clear either so we took it easy.
We ate more pie and watched as the Blizzard of '10 headed up the coast toward us. The snow started around here at approx. 3pm. At around 6pm I realized I didn't get out and get my Sunday papers(coupons)yet! So silly me headed out in the snow at 6pm to the newspaper box to get some papers.....but they only had 1 paper left, I had to drive 1 mile further and go to Rite-Aid!ack
Needless to say, Rite-Aid was empty except for me and the employees.
I quick grabbed a paper and a few other things and headed back home.
Hubs thinks I have lost what was left of my mind going out in that mess for coupons.
The roads were a mess and it was probably the worst part of the storm for us, since the plow trucks weren't out because it was a Sunday evening.
No other After-Christmas shopping for me on Sunday.
We only received about 3 inches Sunday night and by late morning on Monday it was bright and sunny, but still cold as a witch's teat and windy.
East of us got dumped on, upwards of 2 feet of snow! Even south of us in Philly got a big helping of it.
We got 3 measly inches.
My brother in southern VA got 18 inches. That's a very rare thing down there. He should have come up here to the mountain for Christmas to avoid it....crazy talk, right?lol
So what did everyone else get for Christmas?
Was Santa good to you??
