Christmas Catch-up before the New Year
Geo and I went back to Ohio for Christmas. It was really strange, and kind of didn't really feel like Christmas. This is the first Christmas we've spent somewhere other than in our own house.
We left Thursday. Travel was reasonably smooth, though there was snowy travel in the mountains in Maryland. No surprise there.
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve was kind of laid back, until time to get ready for service. I made the same chocolate-citrus cake I did last year (pictures to follow). I baked the cake before our trip, then on Christmas Eve I made the ganache filling and put the cake together.
We attended Christmas Eve service at our home church, which was delightful. Got to chat with a couple of people, and it was a very traditional service with a brief message.
After service, everyone went over to Niece B's and her hubby's new house. Lots of food. My SiL made real from scratch red velvet cake (which was the first red velvet cake I've had that I thought was yummy). It was good to be with people (which probably sounds a bit odd, but I'll explain later.) We had lots of gifts to exchange: a white elephant exchange, a game exchange, then the usual parents-to-children, aunts&uncles-to-nieces&nephews, etc. Geo gave me a very pretty little diamond necklace. Nothing big, but nice.
Christmas Day
Christmas Day was a white one. A light dusting of snow fell overnight to freshen up the snow already on the ground. I gave Geo his presents (gloves, and two boxes of Turkish Delight), but since he gave me my present on Christmas Eve, I didn't have a present to open. That took a little bit of adjustment.
We got a call from Friend who was watching our cats. He told Geo that Styne was acting strange--had not come out for breakfast, M had to go looking for him, etc. Geo told M not to be too upset, that he kind of expected this. Geo told him to take a towel to the basement and make a bed for Styne next to the food and water, with access to the boxes. I said that maybe Styne was just having a bad day.
I finished up the cake, frosting it with seven-minute frosting and decorating it with holiday sprinkles.
Then it was over to Cousin J's for food and family and fun. Her eldest stepson and his wife brought their new baby. Such a tiny thing! Just almost four weeks old.
Cousin Sammie was there (first cousin once removed, actually), too, which is exciting.
And the topper was Cousins SJ1 and SJ2 coming from Michigan. It was a fantastic family gathering, the likes of which are few and far between anymore, what with living so far away now. I miss interacting with people, especially family.
While we were at Cousin J's, M called Geo again to report that he'd found Styne deceased. Very sad, but not unexpected.
When Cousin J's in-laws started arriving, it was time for our branch of the clan to leave (entertaining in shifts is sometimes the only way it can be done). So it was back to my mom and dad's with us, joined by the Michigan cousins, and Sammie joined us, too, eventually.
Lots of laughter to be had all day.
December 26
Michigan Cousins got an early start back, and Li'l Bro and SiL came for lunch and our family gift exchange this afternoon. I might not have had any presents to open yesterday, but I had more presents than anyone to open today. (Two of which were early b-day presents, but still.) :-) Bro and SiL gave me S4 of N3 on DVD. Yay! Among the other gifts was a nice green sweater and my favorite Christmas Yankee Candle fragrance, Sugared Plum, which is now "limited edition." I had told my folks to get Geo a TARDIS USB hub. He was thrilled! They gave my bro the catalog that came with the order, so we had fun looking through the ThinkGeek catalog.
Then it was to Columbus for Bro&SiL and Geo and me. We spent the night with them, thus cutting off about an hour and a half from our return trip. We stopped at Costco and SiL turned me on to what she calls FUgg boots. (Ugg knock-offs, basically.) I'm looking forward to having a reason to wear them.
Dinner was simple and delicious, and Sammie (who also lives in the area) joined us later. SiL went to bed, and Sammie, Li'l Bro, Geo, and I watched Inception, which Geo and I had not yet seen. That's a post unto itself.
Then came back Monday.
A warm thank you to smalltwndreamer and luvwinchesters for the v-gifts. They came at a much-needed time. Thank you to just_ruth for the card. It arrived yesterday. And I've already thanked Izhi for enabling my habit the mags. :-)
And that, in a nutshell, was my Christmas weekend.
We left Thursday. Travel was reasonably smooth, though there was snowy travel in the mountains in Maryland. No surprise there.
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve was kind of laid back, until time to get ready for service. I made the same chocolate-citrus cake I did last year (pictures to follow). I baked the cake before our trip, then on Christmas Eve I made the ganache filling and put the cake together.
We attended Christmas Eve service at our home church, which was delightful. Got to chat with a couple of people, and it was a very traditional service with a brief message.
After service, everyone went over to Niece B's and her hubby's new house. Lots of food. My SiL made real from scratch red velvet cake (which was the first red velvet cake I've had that I thought was yummy). It was good to be with people (which probably sounds a bit odd, but I'll explain later.) We had lots of gifts to exchange: a white elephant exchange, a game exchange, then the usual parents-to-children, aunts&uncles-to-nieces&nephews, etc. Geo gave me a very pretty little diamond necklace. Nothing big, but nice.
Christmas Day
Christmas Day was a white one. A light dusting of snow fell overnight to freshen up the snow already on the ground. I gave Geo his presents (gloves, and two boxes of Turkish Delight), but since he gave me my present on Christmas Eve, I didn't have a present to open. That took a little bit of adjustment.
We got a call from Friend who was watching our cats. He told Geo that Styne was acting strange--had not come out for breakfast, M had to go looking for him, etc. Geo told M not to be too upset, that he kind of expected this. Geo told him to take a towel to the basement and make a bed for Styne next to the food and water, with access to the boxes. I said that maybe Styne was just having a bad day.
I finished up the cake, frosting it with seven-minute frosting and decorating it with holiday sprinkles.
Then it was over to Cousin J's for food and family and fun. Her eldest stepson and his wife brought their new baby. Such a tiny thing! Just almost four weeks old.
Cousin Sammie was there (first cousin once removed, actually), too, which is exciting.
And the topper was Cousins SJ1 and SJ2 coming from Michigan. It was a fantastic family gathering, the likes of which are few and far between anymore, what with living so far away now. I miss interacting with people, especially family.
While we were at Cousin J's, M called Geo again to report that he'd found Styne deceased. Very sad, but not unexpected.
When Cousin J's in-laws started arriving, it was time for our branch of the clan to leave (entertaining in shifts is sometimes the only way it can be done). So it was back to my mom and dad's with us, joined by the Michigan cousins, and Sammie joined us, too, eventually.
Lots of laughter to be had all day.
December 26
Michigan Cousins got an early start back, and Li'l Bro and SiL came for lunch and our family gift exchange this afternoon. I might not have had any presents to open yesterday, but I had more presents than anyone to open today. (Two of which were early b-day presents, but still.) :-) Bro and SiL gave me S4 of N3 on DVD. Yay! Among the other gifts was a nice green sweater and my favorite Christmas Yankee Candle fragrance, Sugared Plum, which is now "limited edition." I had told my folks to get Geo a TARDIS USB hub. He was thrilled! They gave my bro the catalog that came with the order, so we had fun looking through the ThinkGeek catalog.
Then it was to Columbus for Bro&SiL and Geo and me. We spent the night with them, thus cutting off about an hour and a half from our return trip. We stopped at Costco and SiL turned me on to what she calls FUgg boots. (Ugg knock-offs, basically.) I'm looking forward to having a reason to wear them.
Dinner was simple and delicious, and Sammie (who also lives in the area) joined us later. SiL went to bed, and Sammie, Li'l Bro, Geo, and I watched Inception, which Geo and I had not yet seen. That's a post unto itself.
Then came back Monday.
A warm thank you to smalltwndreamer and luvwinchesters for the v-gifts. They came at a much-needed time. Thank you to just_ruth for the card. It arrived yesterday. And I've already thanked Izhi for enabling my habit the mags. :-)
And that, in a nutshell, was my Christmas weekend.