A Year of Blogging: December 25, 2011

Today is Christmas. I was really looking forward to having Christmas in my own house. I could sleep in because I didn't have any place to be. It was going to be a nice, leisurely holiday. And I was determined not to miss my family (too much). I wasn't going to cry at the thought of missing them. This was going to be a wonderful Christmas. It was a great Christmas, although not quite the storybook one I envisioned. It was more of a hilarious Christmas. But that's ok. At least it wasn't a blue Christmas! I woke up around 9:30. Not as late as I usually sleep on Sundays, but it wasn't incredibly early either. I keep the beagles' Christmas gifts upstairs until Christmas morning. I learned the first year that if I put their gifts under the tree, they will tear everything apart looking for them. I came downstairs with their bag and put it in the middle of the floor while Erich got the video camera ready. They circled the bag like vultures- sticking their noses in and trying to get to the goodies. Once the camera was recording, we sat down to open presents. Onyx decided the entire bag was for her, and plopped herself down right in front of the bag. Every time Cobalt came near, she licked his face. Licking him is one of her many ways of chasing him off. It annoys him when she licks his face, so he leaves. I have a video clip of this- several minutes of her pushing him away as I tried to open their presents. I just can't seem to upload it. After the beagles opened their presents, it was our turn. I bought Erich a new coffee maker in November, and he had given me money (all in dollar and half dollar coins. I think he did this to annoy me.), so the gifts were mostly from our families. Erich's parents gave me a very generous cash gift that left me speechless. And you know how hard it is to leave me speechless! My sister gave me a calendar and new pictures of Syd and Drew. My big gift from my parents is a family trip to Disney World in September, 2012. But my mother believes even if you are getting a 'big' gift, you still have to have something to open. I had quite a lot to open. I had originally asked for the complete Little House on the Prairie DVD set. All nine seasons, plus the specials, are in one boxed set. A couple of months ago, Mom asked 'what else I wanted in case she couldn't get that'. It was an expensive set, so I understood that. After all, these were just supposed to be little things to open. So I asked for a tea box. I have wanted a tea box for a while- a nice box to keep the different types of teas in. Erich and I are big tea drinkers, and we each like different types. I like to be organized, and thought it would be so much nicer to have all our teas in one place, than boxes all over the place. I was so incredibly surprised and happy this morning to unwrap not only the DVD boxed set, but also a tea box. The tea box is filled with teas- so first we have to enjoy the 8 different kinds of teas in the box, and then I can refill it with our usual. If you're going to have a tea box filled with teas, you need something to brew them in. Mom bought me a tea ball, it's this little personal sized tea pot. It has a filter basket inside it. You put the tea in that, then pour the hot water around it and let the tea steep in the pot. It's kind of neat. I've already used it tonight and sampled the cherry tea from my new tea box. There was a Yankee blanket and a book about baseball. I suspect Dad helped Mom with her shopping at that point. There was a new reusable grocery bag, but this one is insulated which will come in really handy in the summer. Erich and I received ceramic travel mugs. His is red and mine is blue. My mom knows us so well! And then, there's a cookbook. I thought perhaps Mom gave it to me as a joke. But it's a Potluck Cookbook, filled with recipes that you can take to a Potluck supper (or Covered Dish Supper or Pitch-in). Most of them are casseroles, and I love to make something that goes in one dish, so I know why she gave me the cookbook. It was a great Christmas! We were supposed to have Erich's parents over for dinner, but his Mom is sick. We didn't want the sickness to spread, and she didn't feel well enough to come over. So dinner then became a 'cook and transport' operation. I would cook everything at my house, divide it in half, and take their half over to them. It's a good thing they live close by! The only problem is that the turkey wouldn't cook. We had a turkey breast roast- which is basically just the breast meat rolled up. There's no bones in it. It was 4 lbs, and should have only taken 2 hours to cook. I poured maple syrup over it for flavoring. Maple syrup will caramelize as you cook it, so it created a nice glaze. We kept checking it and checking it, and it still wasn't done. When we thought it was done, we used my meat thermometer, which isn't the trustiest of things. We took a chance, cut it open, and half of it was still pink. One end was done and one wasn't. My oven is only a couple of years old, so it's not the oven. We cut the turkey into medallions and put them into a pan, and put them back in the oven. I turned on the 'speed bake', which turns on the convection part of the oven to cook things faster. We walked the sides and desserts over to his parents and I carried over their present. I felt terrible that the turkey wasn't cooperating. No one else seemed to mind. They opened their blanket and loved it. And they started right in eating the sides. When the turkey was finally done, we realized that half of it was white meat and half dark meat. None of us like dark meat. Erich took the white meat to his parents, and ate some of the dark meat himself. So after all that, I didn't even get any turkey! It's ok, we had too much food anyway so the sides were enough. By this point, I was worn out. I've wondered where all of my energy came from over the past couple of weeks. Well, that tank hit empty this afternoon. I curled up on the couch to rest while Erich worked on clean up. At this point, I think Cobalt must have had enough of his sister bullying him all morning. He marked his territory all through the house from the living room to the dining room. He is usually so good about telling us he needs to go out. So Erich immediately steam cleaned the carpets. All we could do was laugh. Not your typical Christmas, but it's one that is memorable! Even though the day had it's moments that were borderline dysfunctional, it was still a wonderful day. I am so blessed, and days like today remind me of that. Merry Christmas!