Monday Morning Christmas Quarterbacking

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??

Sluggy

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a peaceful, joyous Christmas!
I also hope "Santa" brought you something you really REALLY wanted!

Since all my kids are teens now, there was no pre-dawn staggering of mom and dad downstairs to the Christmas tree.  We all roused and got to the gift unwrapping by noon.lol
Everyone seemed happy with their haul, especially our youngest who got his heart's desire of a bass guitar.
Then the relatives showed up and I started the Holiday meal.
I didn't do a big Feast like in years past.  I baked a chicken with onions and carrots and roasted a small boneless leg of lamb with onions and rosemary potatoes.  Add in teriyaki green beans and sparkling grape juice and everyone ate well.
And the best part is the only leftover was some chicken. We all had plenty to eat and I didn't have to cram leftovers into the fridge!  That's my idea of a Christmas present....

My Sister-in-Law sent a big box of fancy pants Cookies that arrived Christmas Eve so we all set upon that box like a herd of hyenas for dessert.  It's a good thing too, because I didn't have the energy or time to get around to making any Holiday sweets yet.  Since hubby has off for the next week, I'll take my time and make a few sweet goodies in the coming days.

So are you off hunting the After Christmas Deals today?
I know this will shock you but, I won't be shopping today.
Nope.
I don't need any wrapping stuff.
And my kids are past the toy ages so I don't need to stock up on clearance toys for next year.....though I might go out later and get some to stash back to donate next Christmas.
I don't need toiletries and perfume sets, or holiday food sets or holiday themed paper goods or cake mixes/frostings/etc.  I have more than I can use in my stockpile already.
This is all not to say that the majority of my family is NOT at the mall or Target or some other shopping mecca as I type this out.  They all got gift cards &/or cash and it's burning a hole in their collective pockets!lol

I think I'll spend today downloading and going through the photos I shot yesterday.
Then I'll get my receipts up to date and prepare to do my end of month calculations on my spending.  Then pay a couple of year end bills. 
Then do a few rebates that need to go out before the end of December.
Then I 'might' wander up to Rite-Aid since I still have a $20 Fall GOS Certificate to use and there is some Northern TP on sale calling to me.lolol
Then lounge in bed and read a book.
There will be no cooking or cleaning today.
Just things I WANT to do!

Happy Day-After-Christmas everyone!!

Sluggy