Christmas was good. Unfortunately I was behind as usual–didn’t decorate the Christmas tree until late Christmas eve, or, perhaps it was technically Christmas morning. No time for baking like I always want to but I did most of my Christmas shopping online so that was fairly painless.
I suppose the season was kicked off with my work Christmas party. The owners of the McDonald’s work at always throw a Christmas party but they were thinking about forgetting the whole thing this year. I had never been so I decided to go this year because it might be the last time, I didn’t have school to worry about and I had the boys, and hey, it is free food. The food was alright (not McDonald’s) but the dessert was better. They had prizes (my oldest nephew won a free Happy Meal), candy and a bounce house for the kids, dancing, and prizes for crew members. I won a food chopper 🙂
Next we had my family Christmas party–my dad’s side. I stopped at Meijer in Trenton, MI close to my Uncle’s house to get some dessert for the party. While walking through Meijer I had a feeling–“Wouldn’t be funny if Rachel were here shopping right now.” I hurried through the store thinking I’d have to call her later, I had been remiss in calling her and we hadn’t talked for quite some time let alone seen each other. My husband and I grabbed some beer (for him, not me) from the crowded adult beverage aisle…he had to go back to try to find a bottle opener as I made my way through the frozen section toward the bakery. Lo and behold, as I looked across the low frozen cases of chicken breasts, there was my old pal Rachel. A ha! I stopped in my tracks and just stared at her, waiting for her to look up. I was surprised but my brain was screaming “I told you so” at me. Rachel looked up and I think did a mental double take. It was hilarious…here we were after all this time. We hugged (quite a long hug) and we tried to hurriedly catch up. Chuck said as he came out of the beer aisle and into the frozen section and heard some people loudly talking and wondered at it, then he saw it was us. I hated to leave her but I had to get to my family party. Ugh! I miss my old friends. I need to make an effort to see them more often…
On to my family party. Most everybody was there and my Uncle Kevin’s small mid-century brick house was crowded. It was good to see everybody, especially my 90+ Great Aunt Rose. I really want to sit her down one day and talk to her about the family and her memories. I did talk to everybody but I didn’t get enough time to spend to have any real conversation with anyone. I was surprised to see my cousin Joe and his wife Monica. They travel the world and usually live in Atlanta, GA when they are stateside. They rarely make it to family gatherings but there they were. It was a good time and I hated to see people leave. We were one of the last to leave. I need to make an effort to see my family more often…
Well soon it was Christmas Eve. Luckily my brother took his boys so me and Chuck had a peaceful few days except we had to clean the house to get ready for Christmas. I decided we should host the McGlinchey (his family) this year since no one else was in a position to do so– one sister lives in Nebraska, one sister wasn’t really interested in hosting (and I don’t blame her, and now his oldest brother is getting a divorce we no longer have his wife Candy to push us to get together. I felt it must fall to me and Chuck. I decided I would prepare all the food too and not ask for anyone to bring anything. Too short notice and I felt I owed it to them because everyone had done a lot for holiday parties in the previous years. So Christmas Eve morning found me marathon shopping for groceries–couldn’t get out any sooner. Luckily my husband did a lot of the cleaning while I prepared the food. It all came together though I ran behind as usual. On Christmas Eve (the night before the party) I made up a huge pan of baked mac and cheese and some sauerkraut and kielbasa (one of my family faves)…I made us a special Christmas Eve dinner–roast beef with potatoes and carrots. On Christmas I made ham, green bean casserole, corn (which I forgot to put out but wasn’t really needed anyway)…Chuck made baked beans. I should have made up the appetizers early–Chuck’s two brothers and nephew showed up before I could get those ready so Chuck had to cut the cheese (HA HA) and had to cut up veggies for the veggie tray while everybody was already here, though I had already made up my dips…I had also made some cake and cupcakes from boxed mixes; my sister-in-law and nieces helped make frosting and frost the stuff. I had mashed potatoes too–I boiled the potatoes but my niece prepared them because I have not learned how to make ’em so they aren’t sticky. She made some good mashed potatoes–lots of butter. It was quite the to do but I needn’t have bothered with my mac and cheese (I didn’t put it out) because my sister-in-law brought some. Everybody was so full that no one even wanted dessert. In addition to cake and cupcakes I had some chocolates, chocolate covered pretzels, cookies, and cream pies. I didn’t even have to get out the cream pies 😦 And then we ate mac and cheese for the week after. Oh well, it all turned out good. I would like to have Chuck’s family over more often…
Oh yeah, presents. We had to work those in there on Christmas Day in-between getting ready for the party. I bought my husband a smoker and all the accoutrements for Christmas. He was happy. I got an Amazon gift card and a lot of smaller gifts from my wish list. It was all kind of low key…I really just want to skip presents anymore. For me it is more about experiences. So I really want to try to get stuff going earlier next year, have my tree up, find time to bake, have time to go to various Christmas events like at Crossroads Village and Greenfield Village, and most of all spend more time with my friends and family.
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