Christmas ~ Anniversary

We had a wonderful Christmas day at our homestead.  Aside from my oldest two kids being in a 4 car accident (caused by one car) the afternoon of Christmas Eve, totaling the car that Oldest Daughter was in, and maybe Son's, running out of foil was a minor issue.   Oh, and Hubby got called into work at 6pm on Christmas evening, too.

Thankfully, I keep the camper stocked.  We popped up the camper and fetched a new roll of foil for covering Christmas Even dinner and the breakfast dishes for Christmas day.
 

Our new pajama night went well.  Aside from our 16 year-old's pajamas not fitting, causing Hubby to run to a sister store to return and buy new ones, and Old daughter not wanting to participate, all were content with their new "duds."

Here is the front of my pajama top:

If you remember one of my funny camping stories, you'd find this hilarious!  If you haven't read it yet, you can read it here:  Camping Funnies

Gifts were well liked this year, and I have yet to gift my homemade extended family gifts, so I can't share just yet.  

Two of the girls received homemade boot cuffs.  It will be interesting to see if they like them or not.

Oldest Daughter found a ride to the house, so she could enjoy some leftover stuffed shells, punch, cookies and time with the family.

If you have cats, you'd be interested to know that stores make catnip bubbles.  My oldest daughter gifted us some for our house cats.  You blow them just like the bubbles from the wand you all had as kids, and the cats go nuts.  I hear they make them for dogs too (beef flavored).  

The pups all got toys, and old man Jesse got healthy treats.  Zuri seems to love squeaky toys the most.  We'll see how long they last, ha ha!

Cookies were eaten, and our traditional hot cranberry punch was brewed.  We went through 4 pots of organic coffee by the time we had our breakfast. Movies were watched, books were read, and new recipes were tried. Oh, and Son bought a bunch of rock band games for the girls, so they spent several hours banging away and singing the Beetles.

Books dominated this year's gift giving.  We all got more than one book, aside from one daughter who does not like to read so much.  We laughed at the stack our 19 year-old ended up with.  

Some of the books I received this year -  

On Christmas day I strained my organic coffee beans and vodka.  I mixed the brewed coffee and sugar, and added the vanilla and dark rum.  Delicious. 

Hubby tried it in his coffee.  I tried it over ice first, then added organic milk (no half and half, or goat's milk cream in the house).  Very good, almost just like a White Russian.  A nice treat for the holidays.


Our 17th anniversary will be wonderful too.  Aside from UPS losing my surprise gift to Hubby, and work calling at 8am asking him if he'd like to take a "call out,"  we plan to have a nice day today.

I also made this for Hubby today.  It's a "date night" jar.  I only had to buy the colored sticks.  I had all the other items on hand.  Each stick has a place or something for us to do in the area or nearby states.  I also included things like, "build something together" and simple fun things like "have a picnic somewhere."

Original plans were to get a hotel for one night, but with Son home for a short time, and so forth, we chose to make those plans for a future weekend, carrying out our celebration into more days (making an entire weekend of it).  I already have a plan for it.

Have a wonderful day today!