keeping up christmas morning traditions

as per usual, christmas morning started with the bean running into our room to wake us up.  "it's christmas!  it's christmas!" she shouted as she ran from room to room.  and it's pretty much the only morning of the year that we're all super happy to get up and get the day going regardless of what time it might be.  reminds me of back in the day when the old lady had to be at her dad's by 8am and we'd have to set a really early alarm to make sure we could get our christmas present opening session done before we had to hop in the car.

mollydog was a little less excited than the rest of us, taking her sweet time to roll out of bed and join in the fun.

stevie was perfectly happy to nestle in the old lady's arms and take a family photo.

as always, we started off with our stockings.  we'd hung them on the entertainment center this year due to our lack of fireplace.  hopefully by next year we'll have the final piece of the backyard completed and we'll have a proper place to hang them for santa.

during one of our bazillion target runs, the old lady had pointed at this giant ferrero rocher and said "that is the one thing i really hope to find in my stocking this year."  actually, her exact words were "if that's not in my stocking on christmas day, i'm going to THROW A FIT."

funny thing - by the time i went back to target on a solo trip to pick it up, they were all sold out.  i panicked a little until i stopped at the grocery store the next day and found a whole pile of them - on sale, to boot.  phew. thanks for saving christmas, albertsons.

the bean made sure that mollydog got to go through her stocking, too.

stevie was also pretty happy with the stuff he found in his own stocking.  like a little kid, he kept getting distracted and stopping to play extensively with each item he pulled out.

and in keeping with the doggy pattern this year, presents from the old lady and her special friend came wrapped in this paper.  i stopped to admire her perfect paper alignment on this one before ripping it open to see what was inside.

the bean was stoked about the pile of presents she was opening, which included almost everything on her list.  santa had brought her the copic sketch markers she'd had at the top of her list, and she was torn between busting them open to start drawing and tearing through the rest of her gifts.

the hub was slightly less enchanted with the gag gift i'd picked up for him.  heh.

i had a pretty sweet stack of presents myself, which included some awesome makeup, pretty bracelets and the new reese witherspoon book from the old lady and her special friend.  i also unwrapped a bunch of fantastic new lululemon gear and some kate spade items i was super thrilled to receive.

the old lady and her special friend seemed to be pretty delighted with their loot as well.  she'd found the apple watch that santa had brought for her, which was perfectly timed.  see what i did there?

it was time for our annual breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls, and molly came trotting in to make sure i didn't forget her morning meal.

meanwhile, stevie and the old lady went out into the backyard to run around a little (and make sure he didn't steal molly's food).

ahhhh, breakfast.  even better washed down with a mimosa served in a disney wine glass.

the tree looked so sad with the presents that had been underneath all gone.

and of course, our annual family christmas pajamas group photo.  it's a requirement.  i love that even the dogs had matching pajamas this year.

and then the group broke up into separate directions.  the old lady, her special friend and stevie headed off to spend some time with her dad, the hub disappeared to enjoy a cigar in the back yard (and then to the lounge to check on his regulars who always trickle in on all the holidays), and the bean and i spent the entire day in our pajamas in front of the tv.  it was glorious.

i still can't believe it's over.  it goes way too fast.  but it was wonderful and full of love and fun and laughter, just the way it should be.

'twas the night before christmas

christmas eve was a busy day, kicked off with a grueling workout at orangetheory with the old lady.  we made some stops after class, picking up groceries and gift wrap and a few other last minute items before heading home and hunkering down to get ready for the holiday.  while we were gone, the hub headed to the local butcher's shop to pick up the prime rib roast we'd ordered for our traditional christmas eve dinner.  and since it was just the five of us, it wasn't a huge piece of meat that required hours and hours in the oven.  this gave me time to keep rolling on wrapping presents and helping the girls make snacks and hors d'oeuvres for everyone to munch on throughout the day.

at around 3:30, i pulled up the trusty lawry's website (even though i pretty much have the prime rib process memorized by now), unearthed the roasting pan and rack and got that meat all prepped for the oven.

meanwhile, the girls put together a nice little charcuterie board.  we love our meat and cheese around here.

the old lady's special friend had put in a request for something he remembered fondly from his childhood - peanut butter balls.  after looking up a recipe online, the old lady got going on putting it together.  she mixed up the peanut butter and rice krispies, formed it into bite size balls and melted some milk chocolate chips for dipping.

meanwhile, it took about three hours for the prime rib to reach the correct temperature.  it looked and smelled pretty darn good when i pulled it out of the oven at last.

stevie the dog has finally warmed up to all of us, including the hub.  and vice versa, whether he wants to admit it or not.  heh.

as we were finishing up dinner, the hub remembered that we still had the wishbone from our thanksgiving turkey and handed it to the girls to battle it out.  i think you can tell pretty easily from this picture who won that one.

i didn't get a picture because we were all cracking up over it, but we finally remembered to have them play the "find the pickle" game.  the hub had actually remembered to get our pickle-shaped ornament out and hide it somewhere in the tree, and while i didn't have a prize ready he dangled a $20 and said that it would go to the first person to find the pickle.  when they didn't find it right away i decided to get in on it, but as soon as i started looking the old lady triumphantly pulled it out from its hiding place and happily accepted her prize.  it was all really funny, but maybe you had to be there.

the bean had vowed to go to bed at a decent time to give santa plenty of time to arrive - with no fireplaces left in the house she had been a little concerned about how he was going to get in the house.  we all assured her that he'd find his way in to leave the presents, and after leaving him a plate of snacks she headed off to her room to get some sleep.

after getting everything cleaned up from dinner, i finally finished wrapping the rest of the presents.  the pile of gifts under the tree was a little crazy, as it always is.

and once everyone had their matching pajamas on - even the two dogs! - the stockings were stuffed, lights were turned out and the rest of us fell into bed.

and i was so proud of myself for making it into bed well before 2am this year!  having the old lady help wrap presents a couple of weeks ahead of time was a huge help, so hopefully we'll remember to do it this way from now on.  makes going to bed on christmas eve a lot easier.

a texas quickie

with the hub's grandpa celebrating a milestone birthday this year - 80! - we braced ourselves for a whirlwind pre-christmas trip out to texas to be present for a big family dinner party in his honor.  his birthday happens to fall three days before christmas, which also happened to be a saturday this year.  we'd checked out flights a few months ago after confirming that the old lady would be able to take off work to come with us, and came across a screaming deal that got all four of us round trip tickets for just under $1,000.  even better, it was a flight out of ontario airport and not LAX, which was a huge bonus.  the bummer was that it was a 1am flight, landing somewhere around 5am texas time, but the price couldn't be beat and so we booked it.

we arrived at the airport somewhere around 11:30, and  even though it was prime time for holiday travel, it was late enough that we got through security without waiting in line for even five minutes.  we got to the gate with about half an hour before boarding began.

there were a ton of people waiting to board, and because of our super duper cheap economy tickets we were in the very last group to board, with our seats being in the very back of the plane.  it was so crowded that there weren't any seats available in the waiting area, and so we stood around for awhile until the boarding process finally began.

as it turned out, the flight was oversold without a single no-show.  everyone who'd bought a ticket showed up to board that plane, and pretty soon the attendants were offering airline vouchers to anyone who was willing to give up their seat and take a later flight.  we didn't really pay much attention to it, as we continued to wait for our group to be allowed to board.  but then they bumped up the voucher value to $700 per person, and we started to consider it as no one seemed to be taking them up on it.  after all, we didn't have a plan as to what to do when we landed at the ungodly hour of 5am - we couldn't check into the hotel, and we weren't going to wake up the ILs that early.  and so after we all agreed to go for it, the hub got up to have a little chat with the folks at the desk.

the next flight was scheduled to depart at 6am the next morning, arriving in dallas at 11.  and as he was waiting for our tickets to be rebooked and have the vouchers issued, the voucher value went up again...this time to $1,000 per person.  YESSSSSSSSS.

with vouchers in hand, we grabbed our bags and made our way out of the airport and back to the car to head home and get a few hours of sleep before catching our rescheduled flight.  we arrived back at the airport around 5:00, this time finding a parking spot within walking distance to the terminal for not much more than what we were going to pay at the remote lot.

it was an uneventful flight, and we even landed a little ahead of schedule.  we caught the shuttle to the rental car center, picked up our sweet cadillac and hopped onto the highway to grab some breakfast at cracker barrel.  i LOVE cracker barrel.  can you tell?

the bean and i already knew what we wanted to eat, and i was extra excited to see a new item from their coffee menu - the goo goo cluster latte.

it was definitely sugar overload, but i enjoyed every bit of it.

while we were waiting for our food to arrive, i noticed something - the old lady's apple watch was somehow coming apart.  the face of it was dangling by a thread:

so weird.  but the hub said he'd seen it before - somehow the battery had expanded, probably due to all the sweating she does while working out with the watch on.  and what she didn't know was that santa was bringing her a brand new apple watch for christmas in just a couple of days.  he's a clever one, that santa.

chicken & dumplings with hash brown casserole and mac & cheese on the side.  it's not a pretty photograph, but it sure was tasty.

the old lady opted for chicken fried steak:

the hub's entree was even more boring, since he was still sticking to his keto diet.  he seemed to enjoy it anyway, and then as he waited at the counter to pay for our meal the rest of us wandered around the country store.  i eyed the candy section longingly, but i knew i couldn't really buy anything because we only had carry-on baggage and i didn't have a lot of room to play with.

afterwards, we made another stop at the nearby bass pro world to do some christmas shopping.  we'd decided to buy all of the ILs' presents in texas so that we didn't have to pack it all in our luggage, and this was the perfect place to get it done.

texas loves their presidents bush.  this was the first thing we saw when we stepped inside:

i know it's no big deal for a lot of people, but i was a little taken aback at the sight of guns for sale just hanging out on the shelves, as well as the ammunition kicking it in bags and not behind a counter in a locked cabinet or anything.

the bean loves a good photo op as much as her mother does.  i didn't even have to ask her to pose here.

we found perfect gifts for everyone, and after we got through the registers with bags in hand we headed back to the car.  check out our cadillac:

since we needed to wrap all of our gifts, we stopped at a target close to the ILs' house and ended up squeezing in mani/pedis at a nail salon in the same plaza.  we had just enough time to get changed and hop back into the car to get to the restaurant and help get the banquet room set up with fun decorations for the party.

grandpa was in his element all evening, surrounded by his friends and his whole family.  he seemed pretty excited that we'd all come out to celebrate his big birthday, and it was fun to hear him tell stories about his life and career and accomplishments.  i even managed to get some fun pictures of us:

after helping to take down the decorations and saying goodbye to everyone, we made our way to the hotel.

we were at the hilton in plano for the night, although the bean decided that she wanted to go back to her grandparents' house to spend the night and get as much time with them as she could.  the old lady was excited not to have to share the bed with her, and the hub found a spot to enjoy a cigar and relax after he'd dropped off the bean at his parents' house.

the next morning, we headed over there to have brunch with them and exchange presents.  thanks to the hub, i got to enjoy some mimosas with my breakfast.

he had some fun playing with his cousins and the new nerf guns they'd just opened.

and brother wan had gifted us with some fun kitchen goodies.

the ILs had given us a huge gift basket full of snacks and treats, and with not much room in our luggage to pack it all in the hub and MIL ended up heading to a local fedex store to pack it and ship it all to the house.  when they got back, we had just enough time for hugs all around before leaving to drop off the rental car and check in at the airport for our flight home.

it was a super quick whirlwind trip, but it was all time well spent.  we hadn't expected to be able to see everyone for christmas, so that was an extra added bonus.  and we still got home with plenty of time to relax and get ready for santa to come.

ah, the holidays.  truly the most wonderful time of the year.