My Random Musings | Peaches Prattlings

{January 4, 2014} Crazy weather and catching up

Today was intended to be a lazy day and it was.

First, the weather. Get this…yesterday, yes yesterday, it was 61degrees out, yes I said 61! I had the top down on the car, scarf and hat on, heat and seat warmers and it was fantastic! No haters, please because sometime in the night it started snowing and I don’t think it’s stopped yet. It looks so nice out, all covered in white, so staying in and being lazy was on the agenda, worked out for me.

Next, catching up. DCM had to get some work done this weekend, so he worked and watched football and I watched movies and knitted. At one point I was chatting with one of my best friends from high school CGS via Facebook, any means of communication is a good means! We caught up a little, which was nice, I really need to find some time to visit. NYC.

As I mentioned, a lazy day, so lazy in fact and the movie I was watching so not entertaining, that I dozed off. I have to say I was confused when I woke up, I thought it was later or the next day! And in truth, I was asleep about ten minutes! Just after I woke up the phone rang and it was LTA, one of my other best friends from high school, youth group in fact. We had been trading messages on Facebook the other day and deciding when we could chat and found out that today worked for both of us. It was great, we talked for about two hours.

You know those relationships that you have with some people that you might not talk to but once or twice a year and it’s as if no time has passed, well, these women are two of them and I absolutely love that about us. We catch up and pick up as if we just spoke last week. I’ll take that any day!

Very low key and enjoyable day. Talked to great friends and watched the snow, what could be better?

{January 3, 2014} Milk substitutes

When I was in college, I discovered I was lactose intolerant.

Let me tell you, that first glass of (Lactaid) milk after so many years, like mana from heaven! It was so good and wonderful and comforting, I was in heaven. One of my favorite meals is a PB&J (smooth peanut butter and strawberry jam) on toasted white bread with an ice cold glass of strawberry milk, oh my goodness! So, after years of not being able to drink milk, ahhhh…the angels wept, the heavens sang, ok, eye roll!

Milk wasn’t the only thing I couldn’t have and the substitutes have been great, allowed me to enjoy certain things again. Then, years later, I developed an allergy to Lactaid milk, great. Moving on to soy milk, terrific, now, I’m allergic to soy milk, what? I can have soy products, no problem, but a glass of soy milk, my mouth gets all itchy, even Benadryl doesn’t help, great…

Interestingly enough, I can’t have Lactaid milk, but Breyer’s ice cream came out with a Lactaid free vanilla ice cream, O M G! It’s terrific! I’ve also had coconut milk ice cream, not bad, along with Rice Dream and Almond Milk ice cream, all good. Besides, put enough “stuff” on it, you can’t tell!

Now, I love rice or almond milk on cereal, soy milk was great, obviously I can’t have that anymore, but put one of the others on cereal, especially vanilla flavored, Y U M! The thing is those milks are sweeter than regular milk, so if you put this on sugared cereal, be prepared! The sweeter”fake” milk is great on non-sweetened cereal, like Special K, stuff like that, gives it a little extra something.

As great as those substitutes are, they not that great or the same as a tall glass of milk with something sweet, like cake or cookies. I can’t believe I’m saying this and I’m sure some of you are thinking the same thing…it’s too sweet! Yes, the girl who likes some tea with her sugar, uber sweet Shirley temples is saying that the imitation milks are too sweet to have with sweet desserts! What? Say it isn’t so…it is.

So, as much as I would like to have that tall glass of strawberry milk or just an ice cold glass of milk, maybe with a sweet treat, it is so not worth getting sick over, so, cake with…water, ick. Or hot tea if I take the initiative

I did have some rice milk tonight with a piece of cake, which leads me to this blog post. Cake good…rice milk good…cake + rice milk not so good. (Just because you can’t have the milk, don’t give up on the cake!)

{January 2, 2014} Insomnia…or as people on facebook like to put it…

Oh sleep…why have you forsaken me?

I think I have blogged about this before, but I don’t sleep, or sleep much. I used to love to sleep, I still do, when I can actually fall sleep and catch up when I can and need to, but I don’t sleep as soundly as I used to. When DCM gets dressed about 6:45/7:00, that’s when my brain wakes up and that’s it, I’m up.

Now, most people who post on Facebook that they can’t sleep but want to, I feel for them. As for me, I’m ok with it, I get a lot done, I’m nocturnal, so this is my time to shine!

Sometimes I read a book or two, but most of the time, I’m writing, to you or working on my book and I have a good feeling that this is the year I finish it! But mostly, I am watching movies and crafting. You saw the sock monkey I made for Miss A, well that is one example of what I do. I cross stitch a lot, which I will be sharing some of my latest creations soon and I have been knitting like crazy! I knitted a bunch of scarves for Christmas and now, I’m knitting some hats and scarves for some friends and one special friends mom who is going through some stuff, she needs some warm and fuzzy!

Next thing to work on learning is socks and sweaters, good thing I don’t sleep!

SDL’s mom made me a hat and an infinity scarf this year and I got my first wash cloth that she crocheted, this thing is awesome, SDL and her sister swear by them and I got my first! And…it was Smarties colored and I had just eaten a sleeve of Smarties, what are the odds? Well, today, I happened to be at Michael’s picking up some yarn and decided to get some of the same material and make a bag for her to carry the wash cloths in as she makes them.

All I can say is that I am definitely productive when I am awake, as evident by some of my posts that get posted at 3:00 in the am! So when I tell a friend that they can call me anytime day or night and they say they were up at two and thought about calling because they needed/wanted someone to talk to, I was probably awake and if I’m really tired and you call, not to worry, I won’t answer the phone!

Insomnia? Bring it on! It’s cold out there…someone needs a scarf!

{January 1, 2014} Let’s start the year off with…laughter!

They say laughter is the best medicine.

Who is they and how do they know, but I still like the sentiment. Here are a few other great quotes by some people, could be the “they”, who seem to know what they are talking about.

-Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. ~Victor Borge

-There is little success where there is little laughter. ~Andrew Carnegie

-The most wasted of all days is that in which we have not laughed. ~Nicolas Chamfort, translated from French

-Laughter is an instant vacation. ~Milton Berle

Here is a great site to a whole mess o’ quotes about laughter. (That’s where some of these came from)
http://www.quotegarden.com/laughter.html

I love to laugh, what about you? I love to laugh more than just about anything in the world, I think I’ve told you, I laugh to the point of snorting and I’m proud of it! and isn’t one of the all time greatest sounds the laughter of a child? So pure and innocent and real, there is nothing like it, can we bottle it?

DCM and I love to laugh together and sometimes we’re the only ones in on it or find something funny and you know what, that’s just fine with us! So, we decided to start the new year off on a good note, we were going to watch movies and laugh. We started off at a Redbox after doing some shopping and it apparently didn’t like our choices, so we turned to On Demand and Netflix, we were set!

We started with the remake of Judge Dredd, called simply Dredd, no comment, which was a violent movie, but comical in its own way at how bad it was. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343727/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Let’s just say, if you skip this movie, your life will not be incomplete, as much as I like Karl Urban.

Next was Stand Up Guys staring Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin, what a movie! A pair of aging stickup men try to get the old gang back together for one last hurrah before one of the guys takes his last assignment – to kill his comrade. It was a little slow going at first, but you totally got into it and these three guys, wow. It wasn’t an entire laugh riot, but if you have our sense of humor, you’d be laughing. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389096/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_5

This morning, before DCM got up, I watch The Guilt Trip with Barbara Streisand and Seth Rogan, I loved it! There were a few times I got choked up because Barbara Streisand still favors my mom, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1694020/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4. The movie was funny and touching and hit home a little and I laughed and laughed and laughed. A good way to start the new year!

One of the things we both love is listening to comedy at a club, on the radio, xm radio, slacker.com and pandora.com, we could listen for hours. And one thing we have in common is the large number of comedy albums we have, most of mine are on cassette tape! and most of his are CD.

After that we were looking for something else and decided it was comedian central! We looked for a comedian and the first one, Russell Howard, didn’t do it for us. Sometimes it’s difficult when the comedians are from other countries and make reference to TV shows, etc that don’t make sense to us.

Then I introduced DCM to Russell Peters, a great comedian from Brampton, Canada. Russell Peters is a comedian I have liked for a long time, he is Indian and a lot of his comedy is about almost any ethnicity, he’s an incredible mimic with accents and tells it like it is, poking a little fun at different stereotypes but never in a malicious way. When DCM and I still worked at Stratix, the majority of the team were Indians and were quite familiar with Russell Peters. http://www.russellpeters.com

We started last night and continued today with the four specials Netflix had: Notorious, The Green Card Tour, Russell Peters vs The Word and Red, White and Brown. He uses some choice language, so if you are offended, you are forewarned.

Next was John Pinette: I’m Starvin’ and Still Hungry. This is a very funny man! He is a “healthy” individual and a lot of his standup revolves around food, his love of it and things a man his size cannot/shouldn’t do, among other very funny things. He uses very little profanity in his show, he is very funny and I recommend him highly. I saw him at the Punchline in Atlanta and have a picture with him!
http://johnpinette.com

Next was one of my favorites, Lisa Lampanelli, the self proclaimed comedy’s lovable “The Queen of Mean”. We watched Tough Love. I must warn you that she is a very foul mouthed comic, so if you are offended by bad language, stay away! She goes after everyone, every race, nationality, religion, sexuality, equal opportunity. She takes the stereotypes to a whole new level and I love it/her! The people who go to see Lisa Lampanelli know what they are in for, very few people are surprised.

Lisa Lampanelli is most famous for her stints on Comedy Central’s Friars Roast, where insults are the common theme. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_Central_Roast

I got to see her 8/9/2008, I only know the date because it was after LD’s 8/8/8 party. I love my picture with Lisa too!
http://www.insultcomic.com

DCM wasn’t impressed with Mike Birbiglia, it was ok, but I usually just hear snipits on the radio and in small doses, he’s funny. John Caparulo was a wash as well, in small doses on xm radio, not bad. He just sounds like a frat boy not sure which way is up. Aziz Ansari, who we both usually like didn’t cut it today.

The next few comedians were a hit! And three were on Last Comic Standing. It’s a reality show that is a competition to see who the best comic is in America, basically at the end, they are the last comic standing. Some seasons had comedians who are already successful in the industry, three of the next few comics were all part of the show and all were winners!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Comic_Standing

Iliza Shlesinger, winner of the sixth season of Last Comic a Standing in 2008 was too funny for words! She was all over the place, slightly manic, reminded us a bit of Dane Cook. Not a clean comic, but not offensive, definitely a winner! “War Paint” was the name of tonight’s episode.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liza_Shlesinger

Josh Blue was he winner of Last Comic Standing, season four, 2006. He’s a very funny indivual, he has cerebral palsy and works it into his act with perfection. He did say “Laughter is the best medicine…what happened? Doesn’t seem to be working for me!” He is funny whether he talks about cp or every day stuff. We watched “Sticky Change” tonight, where he revealed that he was born in Camaroon, which makes him African American and away he went. I recommend this comedian highly!

Home

Next was none other than Lewis Black, “American comedian, author, playwright, social critic and actor. He is known for his angry face, comedy style, which often includes simulating a mental breakdown, or an increasingly angry rant, ridiculing history, politics, religion, trends and cultural phenomena.” I don’t think I could have said it any better, so I copied from someone else!

He makes us laugh in a big way, check him out if you haven’t already!
http://lewisblack.com

The last comic we watched was Alonzo Bodden: Who’s Paying Attention? He was winner of season three for Last Comic Standing. He is funny and very matter of at act, this last performance, “Who’s paying Attention” told it like it is and made you laugh while he did it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonzo_Bodden

What a great way to start the new year…laughing, I think that is a very good sign!

{January 1, 2014} Happy New Year!

It’s 2014 somewhere!

I just got off the phone with my sister, texted with my dad and a bunch of other east coast family and friends, wished them a happy new year, while we wait for midnight to get here to Colorado. And I love seeing the posts from the west coast, early happy new year!

So many different traditions that people have, it’s great to see what people are doing easy since they are posting it on Facebook! It’s also interesting how your traditions change as you get older and your situations change.

When we’re kids, we want to stay up as late as possible, if our parents will let us, teenagers, we will hang with our friends, college, we go out and party, drinking and carousing, thirties might be the same. Then we get married and have kids, we begin to take back what we said about our parents falling asleep before midnight!

In my family, my mom would cook a great dinner, I remember steak and shrimp a bunch, no matter what a delicious and wonderful meal! sometimes a few people would come over, but mostly, it would be just the four of us. We would watch two live performances from the Metropolitan Opera House: The Tales of Hoffman, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tales_of_Hoffmann, and Die Fledermaus, which takes place on New Years Eve 1899, http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/season/synopsis/die-fledermaus?customid=125.

Then the ball drop from Times Square. When we were teenagers, my sister and I would be the only two up in the house, but we’d go upstairs, kiss our parents, wish them a happy new year and go back downstairs to watch Dick Clark and all the festivities.

What are some of yours?

Whatever you do, east coast, west coast, mountain, whatever your time zone, I hope your New Year’s Eve celebration was what you hoped for.

And…for 2014, I wish you happiness and health, it’s a new year, here’s to it!

{December 31, 2013} Delta flight tonight…boo

I’m usually a big supporter of Delta Airlines, but tonight was an epic fail.

Last week, the delays were all due to the weather, we were delayed only two hours, not much you can do about the weather,

Today, we got home six hours late! This was due to technical difficulties, grrr. We got on the plane, got settled and it was about an hour and a half before they let us know there was an issue. The issue was a load balance thing in the cargo of the plane, apparently when they load the luggage there are crates they use to balance things out. The pilot came on eventually to tell us that he goes through a book before takeoff, shouldn’t he already know what to do? I’m kidding, I know there is a flight check they have to do.

So, they were loading sand bags onto the plane, so someone said. The. They were rearranging the luggage, then they were taking the luggage completely off and then going to reload it. It was at that point, somewhere about an hour and a half or two hours into it, we were told we could get off the plane. Oh, at some point we did get in line to taxi, then back to the gate, just can’t remember where in this process.

We get off the plane, leave everything on except valuables, hang out in the gate area for, oh I don’t know, forever. About twenty or thirty minutes later, they announced that there would be a plane change, so we all filed back onto the plane to get our carry on stuff. Back to the gate area waiting to get back on the plane, then another thirty minutes or so and there is a gate change, from A27, which was the original gate we boarded at, to B1. En masse we all head to the new gate, wait another twenty minutes, could have been more, then we get on the plane.

At this point, they are encouraging us quite strongly to get on so we can take off. As we board, we each receive a voucher for $50 with Delta, weehoo. I have to say, at this point we were regretting not taking their earlier offer to get bumped since they overbooked, it came with a $600 voucher and left about the same time!

We finally get settled and eventually take off, 2:53 flying time. We finally land somewhere around 9:30 pm, get the luggage, shuttle to the car, drive home. Our original time were expected in was 5:45pm, we landed four hours late, oh well.

We’re home, ready to relax and tomorrow, movie marathon for New Year’s Eve, sounds good to me!

Good night!

{December 29, 2013} What a week!

Here it is, the end of a terrific week and tomorrow we head back to Colorado.

(Settle in, get a cup of coffee or cocoa, this is going to be a long one!)

We got here late on Saturday, you know that fun adventure, I don’t need to rehash that! Sunday after lunch, DCM headed out to see the kids and I hung back, to finish a few Christmas presents and wrap gifts, I was a busy bee! The cool part was that I wrapped almost every single gift with one roll of Muppets holiday paper! I found the paper last year and finally got to use it! Don’t you love that?

Monday came and after lunch, I headed out to meet JT for our annual shopping trip, to find gifts for his family. It’s something we started about five or six years ago and it’s become a tradition that I enjoy and value, I know he does too. Luckily for me, everything he bought was relatively small, so a carrying everything wasn’t too bad; I started bringing a rolling cart to carry everything, there have been some big items!

The fun thing is to talk about what everyone might like, I jokingly told him he should put from JT and JJ on the gift tags, I really do enjoy watching everyone open the gifts and flip over them and how much they appreciate what JT thought about for them. I think I already told you my other job is to show up early on Christmas Eve and wrap gifts, which I really enjoy. I’ve always enjoyed wrapping gifts from childhood, it was my job to wrap the gifts my sister and I would give, I en thought about getting a seasonal job wrapping gifts.

While we were at the mall, we ran into his dad and brother and after shopping joined them at Pappadeaux for lunch, which is always a good time. After lunch, I headed out to take care of a few things and then went to meet BG, JCT and her mom for dinner at one of our favorite places What The Pho, yum! It was so great to see JCT as I haven’t gotten to see her much this last year with her travel schedule and moving to Colorado. It was great to see her mom, a master at crochet, let’s just say, last year, I wasn’t the best student, but we laughed a lot!

Tuesday came and we hung out at the house until it was time to head to JTs for Christmas Eve. A good time was had by all!

Wednesday morning, as you might recall we went to KABs house to see her, JB and Baby A! That was so much fun! After, DCM headed to see the kids and I headed to SDLs to cook and eat and enjoy. So much fun!

Thursday was a treat, CKM was able to carve some time out for me in her way too busy schedule! We went to Moe’s, yum! It was great to catch up in person and relax and laugh, you know, the usual! After lunch, she had to do laundry, so I went along to keep her company and while the clothes were in, we sat in the car and watched Red 2!

After we parted company I went to see my friend BG and his son, JAG and his new apartment. We had some dinner and then played Mario Brothers in the Wii, let’s just say someone way shorter than me kicked my butt in the game, but I held my own and had a great time! Who knows maybe I’ll start to get into some of these games they keep talking about!

Friday, after breakfast I had some time, so I put all my movies into sleeves for transporting back to Colorado, boxed up some things that were still in the garage and took them to the Salvation Army on my way downtown to meet TS and her daughter KS at the High Museum of Art for their three exhibits: The Art of the Louvre’s Tuileries Gardens, Go West: The Art of the American Frontier and Witness: The Art of Jerry Pickney. All terrific! It’s always enjoyable to go to a museum with people who enjoy what they see and to discuss what we think and feel about it.

We caught up, talked, laughed, which was great because I haven’t seen KS in a long time and haven’t seen TS one on one for a while, we’re usually out with a group. After the museum we went to a cute little Italian restaurant, Pasta Da Pulcinella, for some yummy food, exchanged gifts and birthday presents, and then we decided to go catch a movie, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and you know how that was. What a great day/night!

Saturday was no less busy! Up before DCM, headed out to SDL’s to join her and Miss A for a drive out to Alpharetta for her hippo therapy, working with horses. This was the first time I got to see it and it was great! She loves the horses, especially Poppysead, who she works with most often. Hearing that laugh when she’s trotting around is like nothing else! After therapy, we headed to The Forum for lunch at Jason’s Deli, a nice treat to sit and eat and watch the place fill up.

After lunch, we headed our separate ways, I was meeting JCT for a movie, but first, I went to BG’s to pick up my iPad that I had left the other night. Turns out JT was there playing video games, Lego Marvel. I invited them to join us for the movies, we went to the Venture Cinema, which has gone from $2 to $3 per ticket! We watched Last Vegas, very funny the second time, check out my review!

After the movie, I took the boys back to BG’s for fun and games and headed to Starbucks to hang with JCT for a few hours. It was great! We talk about once a week, but we haven’t seen each other in about a year, so this was much needed!

This morning after I did a load of laundry, we had Waffle House, gotta get it in…we don’t have one that close to us in Colorado. Then DCM went to see the kids, I headed to SDL’s to help her get some stuff done around the house, the girl is amazing with a drill and some glue! I got to play with Miss A, while still getting things done.

Her parents got back from visiting grandpa in Florida and we headed out to SDL’s favorite Mexican restaurant, Agavero Cantina. JCT and her mom met us there for dinner. SDL hasn’t seen JCT or her mom in over a year, so it was time and you know they love Miss A! SDL’s mom and JCT’s mom could talk yarn as they both crochet and knit. Everyone admiring everyone else’s hand crafted scarves and hats!

After one last hug and kiss for everyone, we all headed out in our own directions, mine was home to write to you and wait for DCM so we could catch up on our days.

So, tomorrow we will take care of a few things and then head back to Colorado and get back into the swing of things, work, thereapy, life. I sit here writing to you telling you about my week which was wonderful and bittersweet, mostly bittersweet because it’s always hard to leave your friends, especially the wee tots who you adore. But I know it won’t be too long before I see them again, gotta love FaceTime!

I hope you had a wonderful week, great holidays, if you celebrated and I hope you have a terrific Monday! Happy almost 2014!

{December 29, 2013} Seat up or down…

That is the age old question now, isn’t?

Since toilets and toilet seats were invented, there has been the debate…seat up or down. There are arguments for both sides.

Women believe that the seat should be left down, especially at night. The argument is that when it’s the middle the night and dark we’re probably half asleep, we are most likely not going to check see the seat down. First, were not going to think about it and the idea of possibly touching the cold seat is not idea fun. And neither is when we haven’t checked and accidentally sit down..ack!!!

A guys argument is that we should be checking and they don’t want to have to put it down when get ready to go have put it back up when they’re done.

Both valid points, but I will tell you which side I’m on, if you can’t guess…

It’s funny the things we comment on; for example, you can tell a bachelor many times because the seat will be up when you go to use the facilities and shouldn’t it be, it’s his place. But on the other hand, it’s nice know he might be considerate to everyone. Besides, it just looks better when the seat is down.

There is the compromise that you keep the lid down as well, but then what happens in the middle of the night? Someone will go on the lid!

The photos are signs outside the restrooms at a local gas station.

GUYS: Leaving the seat up is allowed

GALS: The seat will always be down

So…which side area you on?

{December 26, 2013} Do you work here?

that used to happen to me a lot.

I used to get asked if I worked in a store that I was shopping in about two to three times a week. I don’t know if I have a trusting or a welcoming face or I just look like I know what I’m doing.

Sometimes I would be able to help out just point them in the right direction or just tell them I don’t work there. There were times that I thought, laughingly, of getting a job in a particular store because it happened quite often.

The reason I thought about this, to blog about, is that I was in a store the other day, coming out of the bathroom, with my bag across my body and someone asked me where something was. I smiled and told him I didn’t work there, and he went off to find someone who did.

Has this happened to you?

{December 25, 2013} Christmas, Christmas Eve, family, traditions

Well, it’s that time of year…I want to talk about Christmas Eve, Christmas, Family and Traditions…as promised.

Here is it Christmas night, I’ve just gotten home, I have music from The Nutcracker Suite playing and I am smiling, both happy and a little bit sad and feeling wonderfully nostalgic. I am smiling and feeling nostalgic because going to see The Nutcracker performed by the City Company at Lincoln Center in New York City was something my family did every year around Christmas, I don’t remember, but we may have even gone on Christmas Eve. It was an annual family Chanukah present. (One year we got a Commodore 64, we were in the big time!).

Smiling, because it was something we did as a family; got dressed up, dinner and performance, it was wonderful. The sad part, it makes me miss my mom and right now the famous “Pas de Deux” is on and it is my dad’s favorite piece and one of my mom’s, the other was “Coffee” so I am sitting here smiling and sad at the same time.

That was a tradition we had, along with sometimes going to “The B’s” house to decorate the tree or have Christmas dinner, I think their tree was the first I ever helped to decorate. They always decorated so wonderfully for the holiday, the tree, lights, they have a huge bay window, always so warm and welcoming, the home as well as the family.

Everyone has different traditions and that one was a huge one from my childhood and as I’ve gotten older, there have been new traditions I have been privileged to be a part of.

The first, every Christmas Eve for the last five or six years, I celebrate with JT’s family. Well, the first tradition is that I go with JT shopping and help him choose some gifts for the family, I’ve gotten to know them quite well, so it’s fun to find things for them we know they are going to love. That tradition is usually Thanksgiving week/end or in November, this year it didn’t quite work out that way, so we went on the 23rd, it wasn’t bad at all! We ended up meeting his dad and brother and went out for lunch, it was fun.

Next, I show up about an hour or so early at his house to make a vegetarian lasagna and wrap the gifts he bought, everyone knows and loves to tease him, but it’s something we’ve been doing for years and I can’t imagine not doing it.

Then the festivities begin, everyone shows up, the drinks come out, the laughter and love and then it’s time to eat and they’re an Italian family, so it’s mange, mange! Usually lasagne, mine and a meat, Italian sausages, meatballs, salad, bread and wonderful desserts. After dinner we get settled in for an experience, opening presents. Due to ALL the people, which some years is more, there is almost no room to sit because of all the presents! I should have taken a picture!

Everyone’s name goes into a hat and the first person who opens presents, picks the next persons name and so on. Everyone has brought something for everyone and so you have at least six to ten presents each! All depending on who bought who what. The first year you are there, not everyone knows you, but ST, JT’s mom, makes sure to have something for you, she’s a fantastic hostess! Year after year, as you come back, you exchange more and more gifts and it really feels great, you are no longer a guest, you’re family.

The great thing is that even though not everyone is related, we’re all family and we treat each other that way, even if it’s your first time!

One of the special treats is DG’s cookies! Every year she makes about a gazillion cookies and every family gets a tin of cookies, yum! The catch: if you don’t give back the tin, you don’t get cookies the next year! Apparently a lot of people don’t give her back the tins, so she sends D to get more! One year it took me almost an entire year to get the tin back to her, I always tried to get it to her at the Super Bowl party. This year…she made it easy on us, we got a travel carton, no pressure!

We opened presents, thanked each other profusely, gave hugs and drove home, it was another wonderful and successful Christmas Eve.

Today was Christmas and we started off the day going to see KAB, JB and Baby A! We got to play and open presents and Grandpa, also known as DCM, got to put his car together and blow up his bounce house! see…useful as well as ornamental! They gave us a great picture they had blown up and modge-podged to a canvas, it was beautiful Baby A, awe. It was nice to spend some time with them.

Then it was off to see the rest of the kids for DCM and I was off to SDL’s house for my next tradition, Christmas with SDL, her sister, parents and of course Miss A! SDL used to go home to PA for the holidays, but since bringing Miss A home, Christmas has been at her house and her parents come down south. The first year was funny because she invited me, and my response was absolutely, but it wouldn’t have mattered, I was going to invite myself! Any opportunity with Miss A is a must!

I asked if she wanted me to being anything, without taking a breath, corn soufflé, did I really need to ask? I got there, made the soufflé, popped it in the oven and it was play time and time to catch up with the family. Her dad calls me Auntie G and so does her mom, you have no idea how much I love that! Everyone was in the kitchen playing and talking and laughing, is there anything better?

We sat down to eat to a feast! “Mom-mom” makes a pot roast, carrots and green beans, they are great to ensure that I have enough to eat, as the resident veg head! SDL made her famous mashed potatoes, she and her mom collaborated on the sweet potato with marshmallow dish, there was cranberry dressing, salad, crescent rolls (enough that we didn’t have to fight over the last one!) and for dessert…home made cheese cake and peach pie! Oh my!

Let’s just say after dinner, there was no room for dessert, just yet anyway! So we cleaned up and headed into the den with a nice fire going to get down to the business of opening presents. I’ll give you just one guess who had the most presents! There is always something hand knitted or crocheted from Mom-mom, and I’m in on it, so I am thrilled!

The absolute bestest present…the calendar that SDL makes every year of Miss A and her family and friends, it’s such a treat and honor to be a part of it, our birthdays are part of the calendar too! She didn’t want one of us to open that present without the others, so we had to wait until we had the go-ahead and then we went! We waited for each other to open it, then delved in, wow! I was laughing and crying at the same time, it was awesome! Thank you thank you thank you!

After all the presents were opened, it was bath time, for Miss A, of course! and then time for me to head out and go home, smiling the whole way with my wonderful treats in my bag.

Thank you to everyone who has made this holiday wonderful so far! But…it’s not over! I still get to see more friends this week, which is gift enough for me.

So, as Tiny Tim says “g-d bless us, everyone” and to you I say…”Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!”

Email Subscription

What was I thinking?