Like the Good Old Days

When I left off, I was taking a half day on Friday to get through all of my holiday prep.  I hadn't started my wrapping and I knew I would need the time.  I had also conveniently finished my work projects, so it made perfect sense.  I plowed through it over the next two days while watching two movies, a couple Charlie Brown Christmas shows, Craig's game, and the end of another stressful Bills game.  I ended up baking one batch of cookies Friday night.  Saturday involved figuring out Craig's gift--which took multiple steps--and my dad's (also a couple steps), trips to Walmart, Wegmans, and Walgreens, shuttling Jacob to and from practice, and getting through the long process of cutouts--making dough, chilling, cutting, baking, cooling, and frosting.  

Oh, and did I mention Saturday was our Christmas Eve?  Craig had a game so I was flying solo amidst all the other things I had to finish.  It was quite a day, but slowly but surely I checked things off the list.  But that night I also had to do cinnamon rolls, which turned into a bit of a debacle.  I decided to mix them up in my new stainless steel bowl (Aldi had them cheap), and I have no idea if that did something, but as I turned the dough out to knead and roll it, there were gray spots in the dough.  It almost looked like mold but that didn't seem likely.  I wondered if it was something from the bowl or maybe an oxidation thing, but I couldn't really confirm it via the internet.  I didn't want to poison us for Christmas, so I had to pitch it.  But I also didn't have any more Bisquick to make another batch, so I felt a little stuck.  I later realized I did have another recipe I had pinned long ago that seemed promising and I had all the things to make it.  It would take more time in the morning, but it seemed doable.  

I passed out the Christmas jammies as the kids went to bed and then when Craig came home, and we had some last minute prep before Santa could come and we could get to bed.  It ended up not being the best way to end the night for a few reasons, but almost all the work was done.

We all slept in pretty late, all things considered, but we had to get up at a reasonable time to stay on schedule.  We got our traditional picture...

...then did a full family Christmas pajama version.  Shoutout to my Apple Watch for making this task way easier.

The boys started in on their stocking stuffers, which were actually overflowing this year.  They both got a bunch of candy but Jacob also got a replacement basketball net (for either our front net which has shrunk or the pool net which disintegrated this summer) and some sport body wipes for when he works out at school in the morning and can't get a shower.  Carter got a Pez ornament, a cute Christmas gnome, and a couple fidgets, including a super cool flip star cube like we saw at EPCOT this year in one of the Asian stores.  I can't keep my hands off that one!  It's so cool and oddly satisfying.

Jacob was clearly in a good mood because he randomly did this with the stockings.  Thankfully they came off unharmed but with his giant feet I wasn't sure for a minute!

Jacob got a pair of tear-away pants, which he had to try out right away.  Carter is apparently pretending to test out his new water bottle, which I bought because I can't stand the suction noise his Gatorade one makes when he uses it in the house.

I got a couple shirts (UR and Knighthawks), a pickle ornament (not a fancy glass one, but a silly Claussen one with pickle gummies), and a Pam Beesly Halpert Funko POP figure who now lives at my at-home desk.  

This was my view while playing Santa.  I really love our tree.

Carter got a baseball bat, which he figured out as he was getting in position to unwrap it, so he did this!

Jacob's favorite gift was a stuffed Mickey Mouse.  He talked about getting one at Disney but didn't--maybe because we questioned the idea of a 15-year-old getting one, or maybe we thought they were too expensive or wouldn't fit in our luggage.  But I stumbled upon a giant one for only $10 at Walmart so I couldn't pass it up.  That ended up being Carter's gift to Jacob.  Jacob gave Carter a cool Indiana Jones playset Craig picked up at the Toys 'R' Us in Saskatoon (yep, Canada still has them!) on his recent road trip.
 

Carter's big gift was a Treasure X playset.  I hesitated to get him another toy since he rarely plays with toys, but he kept bringing it up, I found it on sale, and I figured maybe one last "Santa toy" was in order.

Carter also got a couple shirts, a 3D LED soccer light, a Wimpy Kid book about sports, and Christmas socks.  His ornament this year was a cool snowman made out of soccer balls.  Jacob got a Brita filtering water bottle that I called "an investment for our next Disney trip" because people swear by them to take the sulfur nastiness out of Disney water.  He's a water snob so if he's smart he'll use it elsewhere, too.  He also got some new pajama pants, a UR basketball shirt, some Adidas socks and some smiley face socks.  His ornament was a Hallmark one with a clear backboard with a hoop (with a net!) and a red, green, and white basketball hanging above it.  But my favorite gift to him also came from that Walmart order with the stuffed Mickey.  Jacob loves nutcrackers and wanted a Mickey one, but they were so expensive.  Yet somehow Walmart had one for $17!  How could I not?

I had been struggling with Craig's gift since we gave him a couple good things for his birthday, and he hadn't really had much on his Christmas list.  I had a brainstorm on Saturday to get him a nice photo collage frame and add in a bunch of favorite photos.  I figured he could take it into work, or at worst we can hang it above his dresser.  I came up with the idea, bought the frame, ordered the photos for one-hour developing, and picked them up, all in a few hours that day.  I think I did a good job, though I don't think he was as excited about it as I was hoping.  I also bought him some favorite candy--Good and Plenty, black licorice, Jujyfruits, some gum, and some TicTacs--and I think he liked that better.  Oh well.  I tried.

After presents it was off to work on the cinnamon rolls.  The recipe looked pretty reasonable, and everything went pretty well.  There were a couple additional steps, but it wasn't significantly harder than the old recipe.  It had to rest for a bit, I had to make up buttermilk, and I had to spread butter on the rolled dough rather than just brush it with melted butter, but the dough was also way easier to work with.  I threw the rolls in the oven and started in on my next challenge--Air Fryer bacon!  That had a little bit of a learning curve but it turned out great and was way easier to manage than the oven.  

The rolls were really good--even better than the old ones.  The texture alone was so much better.  The middles were a little extra gooey, but they were tasty!  We had a great breakfast, although Craig was late in joining us because he had to get on the phone with the travel agency because a few Knighthawks got injured and he had to remove them from this coming weekend's trip.  I should also probably mention here that Craig had been having tooth issues for a few days.  He's had some issues with a tooth in the past but the last time he was at the dentist they took out the filling and redid it, hoping he could avoid a root canal.  Well, over the past week it started flaring up with some nasty pain, especially when he ate or drank.  He was icing his face all the time.  He finally called the dentist even though they were closed, and the dentist prescribed some antibiotics and directed him to stay medicated.  Unfortunately he was in quite a bit of pain for a good chunk of the weekend, but the medicine did seem to help by the day after Christmas.  And the day after that he ended up with a root canal, which luckily didn't impact his travels this week.  Oh, and I had a couple random injuries I was battling, too.  The previous night I had been on a chair grabbing something out of the pantry and was trying to step around Jacob in his chair (he never pulls his chair in) and completely misjudged something, which led to my leg landing really hard on the "knob" on top of the chair.  The back of my leg hurt so bad and was pretty quickly swelled up.  The bruise showed up later, probably 3-4 inches across the back of my leg.  It really hurt to do almost anything for a few days.  Then I somehow hurt my wrist.  Perhaps I slept weird or strained it somehow, and I could barely use it on Sunday.  It was my left wrist, too, which was a big problem.  I went to pick up my fork at breakfast and couldn't even hold it without it hurting.  Washing my face and rubbing in makeup was agony.  Thankfully it felt better within a couple days, but my joints' weirdness (going back to my double tennis elbow a year ago) continues to perplex me.  On the bright side, I worked out the other night and realized my shoulder (which has been bugging me for months) suddenly felt way stronger.  I give up trying to figure it all out.  

I went off to start getting ready for church and got a text from my friend--the one I've recently reconnected with through our monthly coffee dates--asking if we were still going to noon church.  She hasn't physically gone to church since the pandemic because her MS medicine compromises her immune system, but her son wanted to go so she told me a couple weeks ago that they were going to try.  Unfortunately her daughter ended up with pinkeye so it was just her and her son, but she even saved us seats so we got to sit with them.  I hadn't seen her son in ages either, and boy, did he ever grow up in the last few years!  It was so sweet to be there for a beautiful service, next to a special friend.  The candlelit "Silent Night" near the end was as beautiful as ever.

It was a great launching pad for the rest of the holiday.  We came home, did simple lunches, and worked on getting packed up for Buffalo.  It wasn't exactly restful but it also wasn't as much hustle-bustle as we usually have at that point, so it made the day just calm enough.  

We stopped at Craig's Aunt Marie's on our way in, for the first time since 2019.  She wasn't doing anything formal like years past, and a lot of her kids and their kids had already been there most of the day, so it ended up mostly just being Craig's cousin Julie and her husband and baby Zack, but oh, that baby was plenty of entertainment!  Craig's brother's family came as well, and we had a nice little visit.  We ended up seeing one more cousin briefly when he and his wife stopped back over, and their dog was in the car and was literally the sweetest, softest dog ever.  So adorable.  It was weird walking out to a 40-something degree night, since many years we've walked out into inches of fresh snow or had to maneuver around giant snow piles to get to our vehicle.  It definitely felt like something was missing, but it was also a weird relief, especially after last year when bad weather ruined everything.

After that we went back to Craig's parents' house.  Despite the recent challenges there, we pretty much just moved between his parents in the living room and his brother's crew in the kitchen.  Not ideal, but at least we could all be in the same general space.  Craig's brother's family is babysitting their friends' dog (the same friends where the wife was talking up the Dominican Republic to me at Thanksgiving), and that dog was just a giant lump.  He was chubby, limped badly, had stinky farts, and loved belly rubs.  I tried to befriend him immediately and then he was looking for love half the night.  Later he was very diligently guarding the ham!

We ate well and eventually exchanged gifts.  Craig got a fun Peanuts ornament and a Peanuts nativity.  The boys mostly got a bunch of clothes and Carter got some fun military Lego-type toys.  I got some personal pampering type items, a sweater, and a plant.  Eventually it was getting late so we headed off to my parents' house.  I was so tired I actually slept halfway decent on the air mattress!

We had to get up for 10am church.  We got there just before, but on time, which in and of itself was a small Christmas miracle!  It was a very nice service and it ended with communion, at which point we were instructed to pick up a jingle bell on the way back to our seats, to use during the closing song.  It was actually a nice touch!

Carter with a giant bell!

After church, Jacob wanted to sneak into the church gym and see if he could get a couple shots up.  I think it was partly for him and partly because Craig likes to post things that let Jacob's coach know that he's making an effort.  The ball was borderline flat, but he did shoot for a few minutes.  Carter joined in and then I decided we should probably exit before we got caught.  It would have been different had my parents been with us, but we're not members or anything so it felt a little weird.  But mission accomplished, I guess.

Back at my parents' we had a tasty meal of ham, cheesy potatoes, corn, crescent rolls, and my mom's beloved raspberry jello dessert...except this year the creamy layer didn't quite set so it was a little harder to eat!  Still tasty, though.  We also had her whipped cream peppermint dessert after presents.  It's literally just whipping cream with peppermint pieces and I think some peppermint extract, frozen like ice cream, but it is so light and delicious.   

We opened presents after we ate.  It was pretty low-key because no one asked for much and my mom mostly wrapped up cash creatively, particularly for Jacob, who had to pull cash out of a box with a slot!

I got my Chihuly calendar, a lighted makeup mirror, my angel ornament, and a couple other things.  The boys each got an ornament that my mom made that looked like a Scrabble word (she inherited a bunch of Scrabble tiles a while back for craft purposes), and Jacob got LED lights for a basketball hoop.  In addition to a carry-on bag my mom wanted, we gave her a seashell puzzle I got for free via our local Buy Nothing page and a pot holder with Carter's artwork.  I have one too and I love it!  For my dad I made some chocolate covered rice krispie clusters.  He went through a phase where he loved them, and since he didn't want anything, I figured I'd give him something that would at least show I thought about him and had that memory of him.  

 

After dessert and relaxing for a bit, my mom and I went for a walk.  It was in the mid-50s with some muted sun so it was a perfect day for it.  We looped around Wurlitzer Park, the next neighborhood over.  Lots of people were out and it was fun to see all the Christmas decorations.  It was another moment where it felt hard to believe it was Christmas with weather like that, but I have to admit, it was a nice way to spend the afternoon, especially after all the food!

We eventually headed off to my Uncle Jeff's for my dad's extended family celebration.  This is the one that I had so missed for the last three years, between two years of COVID issues and last year's blizzard.  I've spent every other Christmas night of my life there and it was good to get back!  It looks a little different these days--we're down a few uncles and an aunt, some of my cousins were traveling, and my brother and another couple cousins live out of town and rarely make it, but most of us are married now and a couple of my cousins have their own little kids, so it was still a full house. 

Party in the fridge!

We don't do a gift exchange anymore, so the chaos is a bit more contained, but my uncle always has a supply of lottery tickets to keep things interesting.  Carter wowed everyone with his magic tricks, which he got last year but randomly got back into Christmas Eve morning, and even Jacob admitted he had a nice time talking to people for a change.  It was good to catch up with everyone, especially my aunts and cousins who I don't see a lot.  It's always been a huge help to be in that house on Christmas, even if it sometimes looks and feels different than it used to.  It's just enough to capture the spirit of Christmases past, when my grandpa would sit in his chair in the den, or later on the living room couch...when my grandma would beam with pride watching her grandkids get spoiled...when the grandkids and their gifts completely filled the floor...when the piano bench was prime view seating, but the couches were more comfortable...when there was bound to be a humorous gift or two...when we'd finish the night with a men vs. women Trivial Pursuit battle...when everyone was still alive and well.  There are a few photos and videos floating around from those nights, and I cherish them, especially when they show faces we don't see anymore.  There was also nothing better than the cousin camaraderie back then--usually us "middle kids" rolling our eyes at the number of things the littlest kids got and then heading off to eat our food together on the stairs!  We had quite the epic gift exchange between our family Secret Santa gifts and the ones from my grandparents.  It was a marathon every single year, but it sure was fun while it lasted.

Anyway, Jacob had practice rather early the next morning and Craig had to work, so we reluctantly decided to head back home that night.  I unfortunately had a headache by then so Craig took one for the team and drove.  I unpacked the bare minimum and pretty much went right to bed.

The next day involved a lot of unpacking and sorting and general laziness.  I worked on Wednesday, had another relatively lazy day (plus a basketball game) on Thursday, and worked again Friday before heading to another game.  Craig left for San Diego first thing Thursday morning so it's mostly been me and the boys at home.  It's been a weird mix of functional/productive time and laziness.  The house desperately needs a cleaning, which I'm working up to, but I have tried to minimize the clutter in the meantime, at least.  I'm trying to encourage Carter to do things without screens, but mostly leaving Jacob alone since he doesn't get a lot of down time outside of basketball and school these days.  Working from home can be challenging with both of them here, but it's also better than dragging myself into an empty office.  Our New Year's plans are still up in the air.

As a whole, I really can't complain about this Christmas.  Everything worked out exactly as we wanted it to, even better in some cases.  There were little moments of Christmas magic sprinkled throughout.  Jacob actually ended up a little disappointed by the volume of gifts, and while he still made out well, I guess I understand a little.  He's definitely getting to that age where his gifts are more expensive so he tends to get less, and I can't say he's easy to buy for because he's always asking for very specific stuff from less-standard places.  My mom was basically Amazon or nothing when it came to online stuff, so he got mostly cash, and my parents keep moving more and more in that direction.  Jacob flat-out said it's more about the gift opening process than the gifts themselves, which I alluded to here a couple weeks ago.  It's not that the cash gifts aren't appreciated, but for him Christmas is more about the experience and the memories, and cash in a card just doesn't have the same thrill.  I think it's also because we don't do gifts at Aunt Marie's or Uncle Jeff's anymore, so it just feels a little less exciting without those two additional gift opening opportunities.  I don't mind giving those up, honestly, especially given the stress it saves me and the probably $150+ we save on the gifts we gave at those places, but I understand the feeling and I will admit gifts at Uncle Jeff's were always sort of a nice get-to-know-you conversation starter, if that makes sense.  I guess Jacob probably is a little young to start having low-key Christmases, compared to my experience at least, and really Craig's as well.  Jacob is still waiting on my brother's gifts, though, as we were late sending ideas and he took his kids on a short cruise before Christmas so he didn't get to order things until later.  Carter did get a new (full-size!) soccer ball from him right after Christmas, and a couple soccer shirts and a puzzle game today.  I'm guessing Jacob's weren't exactly Amazon Prime shipping speed so his might take longer.  Maybe he'll feel a little better when those show up.

But it was a nice Christmas and I'm sad it's mostly over.  I'm thankful for a little time off now and hopeful for a good new year ahead.  Now to finish off the old one...