One of the most laid-back holidays ever.
Well, at least as far as gifts and food and family matters.
The night before, we agreed for the time to have French toast as Noon. Anybody getting up before then would have to eat a little snack, such as her carrot muffin.
When I was growing up, the opening of gifts was a free-for-all, with everybody, aka 4 sisters, tearing paper and ooo-ing and whooping chaos. Our mother beamed through the whole ordeal, but I often wished for more organization and seeing who got good stuff other than my own, and who gave it to her, other than Santa, of course.
When our sons were little, we got so many boxes from folks via UPS that Joey said the brown truck was like Santa’s helper. And some relatives wanted to know if gifts were appreciated.
I needed to keep track of what came from whoever to be able to send Thank You cards.
So, we decided on the one gift at a time. Over the years, as the boys learned to read nametags, they became the Morning Elf in charge of distribution. Sometimes it seems to take longer than others.
This year the helper was Lucas.
The pile was small, but more than adequate, and not a gift got handed out that didn’t have some witty quip along.
Another of my faults is that I have no patience with surprise gifts. I don’t like them. Perhaps I am a control freak, obsessive compulsive about comfort. And with the boys all grown up, I can change the rules on a whim.
Anyway, for weeks, I’ve been opening boxes and envelopes as they come along. For my Christmas gifts, I will say I got sheepskin slippers, and music CDs, a book about holiday miracles, and a knitting peg loom to make Toddler hats.
I’d like to say they are all Christmas gifts because they got here by the holiday, meaning money and gift cards were welcome.
Husband did want me to have something to open on Christmas morning, tho. So he looked over my Wish List and bought Mamma Mia on DVD, which was carefully wrapped in the Travel section of the newspaper (we haven’t bought wrapping paper in years), with a picture of a camel from the Holy Land folded in place next to the name. Exactly the kind of gift I like—- one I’ve already expressed interest in, and which saves money in some way.
Did I immediately think that would make a wonderful blog post and take a picture? NO = proof positive that writing for the Internet still hasn’t moved into front place in my interests.
For the third Christmas afternoon in a row, I did one of my favorite activities, which is baking. I know some folks want to have all the kitchen work out of the way by the actual day so they can sit in the easy chair with feet up, but the kitchen seems to be where my guys like for me to be. And I do love churning out the goodies.
What came out of the oven has history, and yes I have done a blog before about the Apple Cake seen here.
As per usual, it was just as yummy as the recipe says.
Then I put my new movie in and began peg loom knitting a child size hat for a girl at church.
The evening got used up watching some more Battlestar Gallactica on DVDs, and I finished the knitted hat.
Definitely laid back. The 4 of us at home.
We didn’t call any long distance relatives, either.
Maybe I thought it might break the quiet spell.
I’m not sure.
Here’s hoping you and yours are doing fine.
~~love and Huggs, Diane