Holiday Round Up

Welp, it's over.

I know it was over for most yesterday but I had a friend come to town and we did our Christmas and a big dinner with her so we had one last chance to make merry.  She and I have been friends for 30 years this year and it's so weird to be able to say that we've been friends for as long as a full grown adult has been on this Earth.  She was a mutual friend of a girl I went to school with in 5th grade, then she moved and they became friends and we all came together in 7th grade in middle school.  Apparently, the first thing I said to her was quoting Kelly LeBrock from Weird Science "don't threaten me, Al!  You're out of shape, I'll kick your ahhhssss."  Thus began my rep as someone who had thrown down in many fights and won so don't mess with me.  Who knew quoting movie lines with badassery to them is all you needed to get a rep!

We enjoyed our Christmas Eve with mom and we sat around gabbing for quite a while before opening presents which I'm sure made the Mr bounce off the walls inside.  Adult Christmas gifts are so boring but I got a lot of things I asked for like a roll up dish rack and a new shower head.  Good times eh?  Unfortunately, I didn't even get a chance to take a breath from after our workout to prep to the first 30 minutes she was here so when she left around 10pm, I was pretty tired.

You know you've hit middle age when you turn to each other in the morning, pop out your mouth guards and then say your traditional "it's Christmas mornin' man."  Sigh.  Christmas morning was a leisurely pace which was nice and I'm glad I can still surprise the Mr from time to time.  Then it was time to go down the road for Christmas with the fam.   I set a mental cut off of 3 hours since we still had company the next day and I wanted to clean up from the morning's mayhem and not have to do a bunch of crap in the morning.   I think we stayed right about on time and while the other two gatherings were a little more pleasant, I could already tell there was something in the air when I came in.  Words were apparently exchanged before we got there, Grandma's husband saw it fit to make the only words he spoke were ones of negativity and thus began our mental countdown of Christmas out of town next year.  Don't think I didn't think to myself "359 days" the second we left.  The Mr and I both know this was for sure Grandma's last Christmas.  She's not eating well and is going into final stages.  At this point, I'm praying for her to go soon because I am not up for watching her turn into a skeleton and she's on her way already since Thanksgiving.  We're down to months.  We went home, reviewed the day (which wasn't all bad, thank God for a few cousins!) and I pulled out the pre-made beef roast and broth and mashed potatoes and got out my ingredients for my pumpkin ginger ale loaf for entertaining the next day.  As usual, the day went too fast but I think the Mr still enjoyed time to play with his toys both before and after the family gathering.

The Mr surprised me with taking the day off so Tuesday morning I baked cookies for my friend since she requested them and got them all boxed up.  I made my bread and put the beef roast and the mashed potatoes in the Hot Logic  (affiliate link)  so I was as prepped as I could be.  It was a lovely visit and we don't get to see each other nearly enough since she moved down South two years ago.  I'm sure the Mr is tired of hearing the same 30-year-old stories for 26 years but that's how it goes...welcome to the family.

Now I'm exhausted and plan to sleep for 24 hours and if I ever see/eat another Christmas cookie, I'm going to hurl.

How was your holiday/weekend?

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