It’s the most wonderful time of the year…I think that’s
how the song goes anyway. And while the
holidays mean plenty of fun and plenty of family time, it also means a much
busier schedule in general. To get
through these busy patches (at least for me anyway) I make sure there’s plenty
of coffee on hand.
This year was a little different for us, as we were
hosting family Christmas for the first time.
I’m not sure if it was just nervousness around not having enough food,
or just general stress trickling into the grocery list, but we had enough food
for an army. I instructed Karen it was
mandatory to have turkey, but she was dead set on having a roast. Soooo, we ended up with some of both…but I
wasn’t aware of what I was really in for.
I’m not going to lie; I was a little in shock at the big hunk of meat
that I saw when I opened the fridge. I
guess 15-18 pounds of beef may not seem like a lot, but that’s already in
addition to the 7 pounds of turkey. 22 lbs of meat later, I wondered if there was
a small village coming to our house that Karen had forgotten to mention. We did end up with about 17 people in total,
but when some of them are 2, 3, and 6 years old, they don’t really consume the
portions necessary to decimate a good portion of a cow’s whole body. I know I was stuffed after dinner, but the
desserts were too irresistible to ignore.
A small dessert sampler and I’m sure 23,000 calories later, I knew I was
done for the day.
Nana joined us from
Montana and flew in on Christmas Eve.
She was able to help us participate in the ritual of going to my Grandma’s
house on Christmas Eve for snacks and drinks.
She was then indispensable in helping to prepare all of the delectable
food that no doubt will make my trips to the gym so much more important over
the next month! Although she Skypes
every weekend, it was great to have her here in person. I’m sure it’s much more entertaining to experience
Corwin’s latest developments, Sydney’s new interests, and everything fun that
comes with that, in person.
Of course,
Christmas morning was full of wrapping paper flying everywhere, toys being tripped on, and the general fun chaos that is expected. We were able to Skype in my uncle from Florida
at one point and my brother and his family from Oregon a short time later. Even though we wish they were all here in
person, it was great to see them, talk to them, and share in some experiences
with them over the holiday! Although the
gifts were all great, and the food amazing (as it will continue to be over the next few
days with leftover meals), nothing was better than having family and
friends together and just having fun and enjoying our time together. There's much more I could write, but I
need to go sleep off some calories and lapse into a food coma. I hope everyone else had a very Merry
Christmas!!!
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| Somebody is hungry! I'm glad I moved my fingers in time! |
