Odds & Ends: Christmas memories, etc.

So much to share!  I used to blog through our Christmas, but the past couple of years I’ve been too busy living life over the holidays to blog it, too.  However, I actually do go back and read my own blog to find out what we did, so this memory keeping sort of post actually does serve a very useful purpose for me.  This is the past month or so in bullet points, from the mundane to the memorable:

• We went to Auburn University back in early December to cheer on our homeschool group’s robotics team for the South’s B.E.S.T. robotics competition.  They acquitted themselves well, winning several awards in a field of fierce competition of over fifty teams.

 

• We celebrated Christmas with our homeschool group/co-op and had a wonderful time.  I thought the decor was so festive and cheery–this picture doesn’t do it justice.

• The girls had their last piano recital for the year and took a well-deserved and appreciated break from lessons.

• We joined in with a group of friends to sing and play Christmas carols at a local nursing home.  Why don’t we do this all year long?

• The girls took a science class at the Huntsville Botanical Garden mid-December after CBS ended for the year.  Mamaw went with us, and we had a good time taking in the winter sights in the Garden and following the little boys’ lead, which is something that happens rarely in a family of four children.

•  We had our traditional cookie baking day with my nephews, who are now sixteen and almost fifteen.  (HOW is that possible?!?!)  I’ve been doing this with them since they were small–preschoolers!  Now they’re busy high schoolers.  This year they came over after a morning of first semester exams and before percussion ensemble practice for the fifteen year old.  We made cookies using this recipe and even tried painting some.

 

 

 

•  I did some baking, though not as much as I usually do.  I made Chex Muddy Buddies, cream cheese mints (with creme de menthe oil instead of peppermint), almond bark with Christmas M&Ms and pretzel crisps, and monster cookies.  Oh, and a gigantic sugar cookie (from a mix) baked in a big gingerbread man pan.
• We had a couple of families over one Saturday for brunch, and I made a quiche which didn’t turn out too well.  (It’s important when making quiche in a spring form pan to make sure the bottom of the pan is properly aligned in the groove.)  We also had a yummy salad with feta cheese, dried cranberries, and homemade raspberry vinaigrette.  It was a hodge-podge of dishes.

 

• Steady Eddie and I attended the Keith and Kristyn Getty Christmas concert at the Schermerhorn in Nashville.  This was the best concert I’ve ever attended, and I hope we can make this a tradition.

• We had our traditional Christmas Eve brunch, this year with one of my dearest friends and her daughter in attendance.  🙂  I made cinnamon rolls, cowboy quiche, and bacon.  I made my own crust for this quiche and the ruined one, but honestly I prefer store-bought (as my granny would call it).

 

• Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are a blur of family togetherness and wrapping paper.  🙂  The kids’ favorite gifts were Legos, a queen conch (yes, really), a Little Tikes slide, and a robot that talks.  Oh, and an over-the-door basketball goal.  Life is LOUD around these parts.

• On Christmas Eve Lulu opened a huge Lego set from my parents.  However, when she opened the box, it contained not Legos, but a gallon ziploc bag containing Mardi Gras beads and a can of tamales.  Apparently someone decided to rip Wal-Mart off to the tune of a $70 Lego set.  It was quite shocking!  The day after Christmas I took the box and junk back to the store and they refunded the money with no problem.  Wow.
• Steady Eddie and I saw Unbroken in the theater the day after Christmas.  I was prepared to not love it as much as I did the book, and I didn’t.  In fact, I’m not sure I’d even spend the money to see it in the theater if I had to do it all over again.  The fact that one of the previews (which we usually try to miss, but we got there a little too early this time) was for a movie that I would NEVER choose to watch had me already in a bad mood about the whole experience before the movie even started.  🙁
• The days between Christmas and New Year’s Day were spent with family:  visiting with out-of-town family, celebrating birthdays, etc.  It was a blessed time.
• Much of our holiday time has been spent playing games:  card games, new Christmas games, vintage games that belonged to Steady Eddie as a child.  The DLM has discovered Sorry!, and it has been so much fun to play this with him.

• Our favorite new find has been the game Gobblet Gobblers. It was one of our new Christmas games this year, and it is such fun!  It’s deceptively simple.

• We ended our break with a trip to Nashville to the Adventure Science Center.  We obviously didn’t think this through very well, as everyone without 150 miles of Nashville decided to go, too.  It was still fun, though.

• We capped off our trip to Nashville with supper with a visit and supper with some great friends.
• It’s back to normal life for everyone come Monday.  I’m ready for routine but not for Steady Eddie to go back to work.  It has been perfectly lovely having him home for a couple of weeks.

How was your Christmas?  I’d love to hear about it!