Christmas 2005

Himself and I have had a pretty cool Christmas, with only one incident to mar the holiday -- but I'll get to that.

Christmas Eve we were on the road to Cave Creek to mom & "pop" Larry's by 12:15 pm - a small miracle to anyone that knows us. We picked up the beautiful custom stained glass windows mom commissioned for Larry as his Christmas present (by Ann, her 28th street tenant), the evening before, and packed our awesome Dodge Caravan Van (purchased this past July) stuffed full with presents and goodies.

We arrived by 3:30 pm - traffic wasn't bad at all - and himself helped Larry install the windows ~ I wrapped more presents upstairs, and we had a fabby dinner of tamales and chili. Mom goes every year after Thanksgiving with half a dozen others to help Roseanne make a zillion tamales. YUM!! [ancedote: when I was much younger, no one told me that to eat tamales you need to unwrap the paper AND the corn husk. So... it is no wonder that I always thought tamales were kinda gross and would wonder why and how anyone could eat them... then watched one time as someone unwrapped the corn husk. *lightbulb* OH!! D'oh!! I'm a wuss when it comes to very spicy, but like spicy... so I cut the green chili tamales with cream cheese, and they're fabulous!]

I ended up staying up until 1:15 am wrapping the gifts... earlier in December, D and M Gregory along with himself and I plotted and schemed on how we were going to 'get' mom with Popcorn Salt this year. My husband, who is extremely creative, came up with the idea that we should create our own Popcorn Salt combinations ~ and present her with a spice rack to hold our delicious creations. So we ended up creating: Pez Flavor, French Vanilla with Red Pepper Flavor, Malted Postum Flavor, Peppermint Parmesan Flavor, Parmesan Oregano Flavor, Popcorn Flavor (!), Marshmallow Flavor, and Cheeseburger Flavor. In addition, I created a sweatshirt transfer with the famous quote "I hate this crap and you give it to me every year!" for mom to wear. [I'll post the entire story and link it before too long...]

I brought up the scrapbook page from a couple years ago (Christmas 2002) with the story so Pop Larry would understand the joke. It was probably more fun for us coming up with the ideas and plotting... :-)

The thing that prevented the day from being perfect was that I had purchased himself's 'big' present from Hobbycraft USA on Tuesday, December 20th, it had shipped out UPS 2-day shipping on Wednesday morning... and did not arrive to Cave Creek. I went to Target at 5:15 pm on Christmas Eve for make-up gift shopping so my incredibly generous and supportive husband would at least have some toys to play with on Christmas Day. The plane I got was pretty good, but M. G. saved the day with Radio-Controlled Flying Saucers she got for both 'boys' himself and D... *WHEW!!* I still have to call Hobbycraft and get my $19.99 back, but will deal with that later this week.

Foyetta & Bob came over and brought green beans, turkey, mushroom fritters with pepper havarti cheese dip, shrimp in dill sauce and champagne. They gave us a Domino Train set and we played after dinner... very fun. Mom made an outstanding Standing Rib - aka Prime Rib dinner ~ complete with famous mashed pototoes, Brian brought bread [an ancedote related to Thanksgiving, which I'll get around to], and Foyetta also brought Pumpkin Pies and a wonderful Apple Caramel Pie from Costco -- and Mary made a delicious chocolate cheesecake. I think there were mashed yams/sweet potatoes on offer, but I didn't partake.

The boys had fun playing with their toys on the golf course in-between the golfers playing through... and overall it was a much fun day.

Brandy & Rosie got doggie treats, and everyone who owns a pet received a dog-biscuit cookie cutter and 4 recipes to make their own doggie treats... the pups were underfoot in the kitchen and were the only ones to get yelled at the entire day (!)... Brandy is the food-slut dog, ever-hopeful he'll be called upon to lick up what has dropped from above... Rosie is just happy to be close to someone who will give her a scratch & pat.

Of course, before the day started ~ M and D arrived around 10:30 am and we had the traditional breadsticks, eggs & bacon, fresh-squeezed juice mom picked from her orange trees at 28th street... stockings were opened and much 'fun and frivolity' was had by all.

I got tons of photos, which can be viewed online... www.carrieandbrian.shutterfly.com
password is (case sensitive) ladandlassie


Driving home on Boxing Day, himself expressed a bit of homesickness ~ and I too miss Christmas in Scotland ~ having his family over to our house for Christmas Eve Dinner and exchange of gifts, he and I staying up late to open gifts and have a play until 2am or so, then sleeping in Christmas Day and lazing around until early afternoon -- then getting ready and going over to either Wendy & Graeme's, or Norma's, or SIL sonya's for Christmas Dinner and an evening of watching UK 'telly' - eating a lot of food, drinking a lot of alchohol, and generally having a great laugh... then Boxing Day going over to his mum's for more lazing around and watching telly. Being so cold and damp outside (because it gets dark around 3pm in Scotland in winter) and coming into a nice warm, welcoming house all decked out in decorations and smelling of mince pies, sausage rolls, and drinking Advocaat -- *sigh* maybe we can alternate Christmases starting in a couple of years.... because while all that is said, himself also loves being able to pad out to our apartment balcony on a December morning in just his pj's and bare feet to have his coffee and fag (aka Cigarette ;-) and not freezing -- it being warm and sunny has been a fabulous change for him in general.

We got lots of stuff ~ but the best part was being together with loved ones -- sharing and making memories to last a lifetime. And of course, to celebrate the birth of Christ our Savior. Joy To The World.