Christmas may be over...
but my tree is still up. And will likely stay up for a couple more weeks. I love having the lights on. Will have to string up the extra set of lights above my computer. We took them down when we added more shelving on the side wall for DVDs and never put them back up. Will impress upon Andy that the sooner they are up the sooner I will start to take the tree down. :)
Was weird not having to sort out hours for working at Christmas. Weird to be able to do whatever I wanted, when I wanted.
Christmas Eve was at my sister's place. We all spent the night there, dined on far too many nibblies. Opened masses of gifts. My nephew Kailan made sure we were all up. He snuck out in the middle of the night and put his clock radio in the hallway. They have hardwood floors, so things sound very loud to start with. And he put the darn thing on pretty much as loud as it would go. Andy spent a large part of the afternoon (after we'd come back home) singing about Grandma dying of a heart attack on Christmas morning, to the tune of Granma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. I got masses of giftcards for bookstores, most of which I promptly spent. Still have about $20 for Chapters, which I'll use at some point for more books for the Kobo. My big gift stayed home - Andy paid for half of a laptop for me.
We've had this weird barter system going on around here, especially the weeks leading into Christmas. I paid for Nyssa's gift for him and he, in turn, paid for the whole laptop (instead of paying me back). I bought something for Nyssa and she bought me bus tickets. The only thing that hasn't been sorted out, probably because Andy forgot and I haven't reminded him, is the money for our Groupon to the meat market - $400 of meat for $178. Can't argue with that. We bought our side of beef earlier in December but no one in the family is interested in splitting a side of pork anymore. Hence the meat market Groupon - will put turkey, chicken, pork, a bit of veal, some lamb, a ham or two, maybe some venison. Trying to talk Andy into duck or goose, neither of which he is fond of but Nyssa and I will both eat. Oh, and bacon! Must get bacon. And side pork, which is my preference over bacon - all the pork flavour and fatty goodness without any of the preservatives.
We had Christmas dinner with my sister-in-law, well, Andy and I did. Nyssa went to my parents with the rest of the family. I haven't had Christmas dinner at Sue's in the whole 14 years we've been married, so it was about time. And probably nice for her not to be the only girl in the house for a change. :)
Okay, bread smells nearly ready, best go see to it. And have many, many containers of cookies to go down to the freezer. Already have 2 small containers in the fridge freezer, still have 2 small and 5 large ones to put downstairs. And we've eaten/given away about 4 large containers, too. Yeah, we like to bake cookies. This year it was ginger snaps, peanut butter cookies, shortbread, ice box ribbons, fruitcake cookies, chocolate/peanut butter oatmeal drops, coconut macaroons, peanut butter/butterscotch rice krispie drops and a new cookie that combines chocolate, cream cheese, mini marshmallows, candied cherries and coconut. To die for. And no bake! Actually, three of those recipes are no back. That's why we make so many cookies. It's all just too damn easy. :)
Okay, off to attend to bread and laundry.
Was weird not having to sort out hours for working at Christmas. Weird to be able to do whatever I wanted, when I wanted.
Christmas Eve was at my sister's place. We all spent the night there, dined on far too many nibblies. Opened masses of gifts. My nephew Kailan made sure we were all up. He snuck out in the middle of the night and put his clock radio in the hallway. They have hardwood floors, so things sound very loud to start with. And he put the darn thing on pretty much as loud as it would go. Andy spent a large part of the afternoon (after we'd come back home) singing about Grandma dying of a heart attack on Christmas morning, to the tune of Granma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. I got masses of giftcards for bookstores, most of which I promptly spent. Still have about $20 for Chapters, which I'll use at some point for more books for the Kobo. My big gift stayed home - Andy paid for half of a laptop for me.
We've had this weird barter system going on around here, especially the weeks leading into Christmas. I paid for Nyssa's gift for him and he, in turn, paid for the whole laptop (instead of paying me back). I bought something for Nyssa and she bought me bus tickets. The only thing that hasn't been sorted out, probably because Andy forgot and I haven't reminded him, is the money for our Groupon to the meat market - $400 of meat for $178. Can't argue with that. We bought our side of beef earlier in December but no one in the family is interested in splitting a side of pork anymore. Hence the meat market Groupon - will put turkey, chicken, pork, a bit of veal, some lamb, a ham or two, maybe some venison. Trying to talk Andy into duck or goose, neither of which he is fond of but Nyssa and I will both eat. Oh, and bacon! Must get bacon. And side pork, which is my preference over bacon - all the pork flavour and fatty goodness without any of the preservatives.
We had Christmas dinner with my sister-in-law, well, Andy and I did. Nyssa went to my parents with the rest of the family. I haven't had Christmas dinner at Sue's in the whole 14 years we've been married, so it was about time. And probably nice for her not to be the only girl in the house for a change. :)
Okay, bread smells nearly ready, best go see to it. And have many, many containers of cookies to go down to the freezer. Already have 2 small containers in the fridge freezer, still have 2 small and 5 large ones to put downstairs. And we've eaten/given away about 4 large containers, too. Yeah, we like to bake cookies. This year it was ginger snaps, peanut butter cookies, shortbread, ice box ribbons, fruitcake cookies, chocolate/peanut butter oatmeal drops, coconut macaroons, peanut butter/butterscotch rice krispie drops and a new cookie that combines chocolate, cream cheese, mini marshmallows, candied cherries and coconut. To die for. And no bake! Actually, three of those recipes are no back. That's why we make so many cookies. It's all just too damn easy. :)
Okay, off to attend to bread and laundry.