Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Ours, overall, was very nice, with some weirdness thrown in to keep it real.
We got out of school Thursday and had a mad rush to get last minute stuff done. Friday morning as soon as the chores were done we hit the road south to my in-laws' in NY. We made record time and got there in under 2 and half hours. SIL and her kids were already there. It was great to see them. We immediately noticed everyone was much more relaxed than the past few years. Could it be without soon-to-be-ex BIL a lot of the tension was missing? We exchange stocking stuffers with this half of the family and presents with the kids, which means DS, 16 yo niece and 18 yo nephew. The stocking stuffers are where it gets weird. I wish we could just skip the whole process honestly. I got: a pair of neon pink chenille socks with non-slip soles, a tool to help people with arthritis open pop top cans, a miniature picture frame with a single place card (M_____, no. ___) mounted upside down inside, a yoyo, a pair of gardening gloves, a bottle of hand sanitizer and small package of trail mix and a set of 3 candle holders shaped like Christmas ornaments. I will use the gardening gloves and the hand sanitizer. The rest, well, I'm still scratching my head.....
MIL made a nice dinner with a gorgeous ham, plain baked sweet potatoes, broccoli and green beans, cranberry sauce, brown bread, and plum pudding for dessert. DS and I could everything but the bread and pudding, but I'd brought GF pumpkin muffins. SIL and niece had a breaded eggplant dish that they microwaved. MIL served dessert and I was surprised when I passed and even more surprised when niece did. She didn't have any fresh fruit in the house! But I had brought a box of clementines and niece and I had those and DS had some GF gingerbread cookies we'd brought. While I was thrilled that MIL did such a great job making food that DS could eat, she didn't stop worrying that everything so plain. Well, it HAD to be!! She was upset that I brought goat's milk butter for DS but used it myself as well. Her "butter" was much healthier. Um, it was margarine....but that's a battle I'm never going to win with her! We had a nice long visit and headed out in time to get home, milk and head to church. In our own cozy, friendly church! Yay!
At home I still had a little wrapping to do, but nothing too bad.
We had a nice Christmas morning at home, in our jammies. I love love loved my gifts! DH got me new sheepskin slippers and a bathrobe as well as a pair of insulated overalls from TSC!!! DS got me a bead for my bracelet. He chose the "angel of love" which was just so heart warming and sweet.
Love my little boy!!
Christmas dinner was at my parents' with them, my brother and his girlfriend. We had our usual crazy weird, playful arguing time and exchanged gifts will all of them. They started doing gift cards a while back and it works just fine for us. I got two from Kohls and one from Bennington Pottery from my mom. We will go up to VT later in the week and hand choose some more dishes for our new collection and not have to pay shipping.
Now we are hunkered down for the possibly blizzard heading our way. It is snowing very fine snow out there now. There's no more than a dusting but they assure us we will see a minimum of 6 inches. The northeast hills could see 2 feet in some spots. On the weather map we always seem to fall on the line between the lightest and heaviest accumulations, so we shall see!
The little goats have never seen more than a light snowfall. That should be fun to watch! They came out this morning to greet me. Daisy was right in my face, then jumped up on a rock, leaped to another, charged at her brother, leaped back up on a rock, hopped down and stood on her hind feet. I haven't seen her this playful in a long time. I wonder if it's the change in the weather or if maybe just maybe she's going into heat????
Just got an email from the translator we worked with in Russia when we adopted DS. We had lost touch but I tracked him down last year. I just zipped off some current photos that he will print and share with the orphanage where DS live until we came and brought him home. We were obligated to so for the first three years after the adoption, but we continue to send pictures from time to time, partly to show that American adoptive parents of Russian children do love and cherish their children.
Seems like I never have the car when the PO is open and I have time for an errand. I hope the ones I've promised cultures to are also reading this.... :/
