Almost Christmas!

It's been a busy few days around here, as I'm sure it is with everyone who celebrates Christmas and procrastinates as much as I do!

 

This morning I sat down and planned out the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day foods, and then went grocery shopping. The meal plans are:

 

Christmas Eve - I'm going to make a nice home-cooked from scratch Chicken Pot Pie with a biscuit crust. This is a family favorite and nice "comfort food" for Christmas Eve. We'll just have a simple green salad with it. I normally cook either a roast or lasagna, but I wanted something fairly easy to fix and that Brayden might actually eat. (The child is a fussy eater!)  For dessert, I'm going to make what we call "A Christmas Cake" but which is actually a white cake with the layers pierced and cherry (red) and lime (green) jello dripped down through the layers, then all covered in Cool Whip. It couldn't be easier, and yet it couldn't be more Christmasy.

 

For Christmas breakfast - We'll be having waffles, bacon, sausage and a mixed fruit salad with a vanilla yogurt dressing (which Brayden will eat). I will make scrambled eggs if anyone wants them. I'll also make a crumb cake  for morning snacking. When Jeff was shopping today he bought cinnamon swirl bread for cinnamon toast and Dunkin' Donuts coffee, so we'll incorporate those into breakfast. And I have a variety of juices as well.

 

For Christmas Buffet - We'll have our standard "dog poop" (hamburger, sausage, velveeta cheese cooked in a slow cooker and served on pumpernickle and rye mini breads), Buffalo chicken wings, assorted crackers, cheeses and dips, as well as more fruit.

 

The buffet is cooked in the late morning, then put on the kitchen table in crock pots so that anyone can eat whenever they feel like. I don't like a sit-down dinner on Christmas Day -- I want a holiday too! So the buffet works out well.

 

I still have things left to do! I have all the big presents wrapped, but need to wrap stocking items still. I have two world war II documentaries still to put on DVD for Jeff, to accompany his "The War" audio book. And believe it or not, I still need to make one more trip out shopping -- I'm not happy with what I've gotten Mary so far! I have two other things in mind and will go out first thing in the morning and get them. Luckily the main shopping areas aren't 2 miles from my house so it won't take long.

 

I remember the year when I had ALL my shopping done and everything wrapped in October....sigh sigh sigh. I need to get more organized and think ahead about this kind of thing. There are so many FUN things to do this time of year, but it's all going by the wayside because I'm busy playing catch-up.

 

Next year will be better!

 

 

Hectic days, short nights

It seems hectic days and short nights have been the norm around here lately. Jeff has been working way too many hours and still hasn't fully recovered from the cold he got a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, we've both been so busy that it wasn't until today that I got around to asking him if he thought he should go to the doctor's for this cough -- and, of course, when I call today to make an appointment, the doctor is off all of next week for Christmas! So the earliest appointment I could get for him is a week from today. Hopefully it won't get worse before then.

Yesterday I was browsing Ebay and chanced upon the most WONDERFUL vintage Monkey Clock. It was love-at-first-sight. I asked Jeff if he would like to buy me a Christmas present that won't arrive in time for Christmas, and he said to go ahead and bid on it. Tonight, I won the auction. He won't be here for awhile, but here he is in all his glory:

Ohmygosh, how cute is he?!?

I do collect monkeys, but normally I collect only vintage Morality Monkeys from the 1940's and 1950's. However, every once in awhile a monkey catches my fancy -- and this is one of those. I can't wait to see him "in person"!

Brayden and Joey

A little movie of Brayden's new light-up Spiderman boots. I also have a movie of him stomping to make the lights light up, but it's too dark to show here (and Brayden's head is cut out of the movie! I never said I was a great movie-creator!). But this little movie is Brayden with his boots, and the first movie of him talking -- saying "red" and "blue". Brayden is also shown in the movie loving Joey, our cat. Brayden loves Joey. Joey loves no one. The only reason Brayden can get this close to Joey is because Joey is busy eating! In almost any other situation, Joey would turn around and cuff Brayden for getting too close... sigh. It's probably Brayden's biggest frustration in life at this point!