Christmas, that is. I was very nervous about Christmas this year. I insisted that Ken and I host our families this year. It was the first time and I was a little freaked out that things were going to explode in my face. It's been a long time since Ken's mother and my parents have been together. I wasn't very worried about that since they've gotten along wonderfully the few times that they've met. I was worried about my mother and Christmas in general. This is the very first year that she hasn't had to cook the full Christmas dinner. In fact, this is the first year she hasn't had to lift a finger. That worries me a little because she's got control issues. She'll never admit to it, but it's either her way or no way. And because she's got control issues, she couldn't not come loaded up with food. I told her I would take care of everything, but she still arrived with cookies, cookies and more cookies, three kinds of breads, a platter of deviled eggs, brownies...... The list goes on.
But my fears were put to bed fairly early in the day. Considering I had no clue what I was doing in the kitchen, my first full-family Christmas dinner turned out a hit. My turkey was moist and delicious (I have a tendency to make a dry bird), the potatoes (mashed white and mashed sweet) were the best I've ever done. I made three different pies (two by scratch, one by a box mix that Ken was going to make) and they were all great. Everything hit the table hot, which was a miracle. My only mess ups were 1) I mistimed how long it would take to make the rolls. They came out of the oven half way through dinner, 2) I undercooked the peas and 3) I made too much food. So much that the broccoli casserole never made it to the table.
Ken, bless his heart, really tried to help. He really did. He knows that when I've got a lot going on, he needs to back the fuck away and let me get things done. And he told me he was going to do this while I was cooking. Only he was underfoot more than the cats are when they're needy. I wanted to lock him outside until dinner was done. He didn't really mean to get in the way, he just continually ended up there.
Our original plan was to exchange gifts and then eat, but my folks got lost on the way here and were late. But that was fine. I think my plan was a little off anyway. I spent most of what would have been gift time in the kitchen anyway.
As for loot, I didn't do as well as I have in the past, but I still did pretty damn good. From Ken I got a new external hard drive. A 2 TB drive. I already have a 1 TB drive, but it's nearly full (as is my desktop's internal) and I want the new one to get some stuff off the desktop. As I type this, I have pictures being copied onto the new external. Exciting, huh? My family got me a couple of action figures I wanted, a Doctor Who dvd and the Batman Lego Wii game. My sister also got me this:
I nearly peed myself from laughter. Just before Christmas, I got a surprise package from Amazon.com. A couple of Green Lantern books from my wishlist showed up at the house. I want to send off a super special thank you to Santa's hottest elf for making that happen. xoxoxo
I took Christmas Eve off from work to get the house in shape for Christmas day. I spent the day cooking and cleaning and busting my hump. I had to run out to the supermarket because I bought a wrong ingredient for my pumpkin pie. Condensed milk and Evaporated milk are apparently two completely different things. I'm glad I noticed this before I mixed the ingredients together. The supermarket was a nightmare. There's one thing that I hate when shopping more than anything and that's people who won't get out of my way. I especially hate it when I have a mission and I know where to go to get what I want, but I can't get there. The supermarket was overrun with people, too. I've never been able to understand waiting until the last possible moment to do Christmas shopping, whether it's gifts or dinner supplies.
Christmas Eve evening I got a special treat. I got to watch my nephews open the presents I got them via Skype. That made my whole night. It really did. What's upsetting me about it now is the game I got for Christmas is the same game I got Adrian and I'm afraid he's going to kick my ass at it in a big way. I spent quite a while getting through the first level today (going so far as to look online for help hints.) My eye/hand coordination just isn't what it used to be. I'm going to need practice.
I wanted to go to the gym today to work off some of the fatness I put on eating non-stop these last couple days. I didn't because I think I messed up my feet again. They're hurting again and I think it's because I've been overdoing it. My plan is to just go every other day. Let my feet rest in between workouts. Last week I went every single day and worked my ass off. My good intentions are going to force me to stay away from the gym. Now that the holidays are winding down, I need to start thinking about setting up that appointment with the orthopedist. Not that I really want to, but I have to.
Tonight we have snow moving in and the weathermen still seem a little non-committal about how much we're getting, but it's looking like it's going to be 7 to 12 inches. We're not getting as much as everyone else, it seems, but it's still enough. I plan on going in to work tomorrow, but if we get enough snow, I just may decide not to. Ken just yelled down to me that they're warning of potential power outages because of the weather. That would definitely help make up my mind tomorrow about work. We'll see.
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