Christmas

Christmas has come and gone, but it went well. We got those cookies done:

I finished making Mom’s present – the body is paper mache, the wings are cloth stretched over wire, and the fur is feathers. I am pretty proud of how it came out since I had no idea what I was doing and no directions of any kind:

 

I can’t say the weather was as cooperative, but though we didn’t get snow, we got some beautiful frost on Christmas Eve:

That day I also got an awesome early birthday present. A pair of lucky socks and an amazing homemade heating/cooling pack set whose cover matches the super amazing towel quilt (which I have my feet covered up with right now, incidentally):

That night we had our annual party, which involves enough munchies to last the entire week as leftovers 😉

Since we have a dinner with extended family on Christmas day, we opened our presents that night, too. We were supposed to give exclusively homemade gifts (or at least mostly homemade – like I had t-shirts printed up, but I designed them and did the art work) but some of us *cough* the brother*cough* didn’t want to cooperate with that, and of course Dad always just gives everyone gift cards. So, in the end we relaxed it and said we could buy stuff, which turned out good for me, because my dad is impossible to make something for. However, he did good with an airplane calendar, Trek jammies, and one of the two 35 MM film frames from the OS Star Trek (the other is still – hopefully- being shipped)

The hubby got a clock, a minion dish to keep all the stuff out of his pockets in, and an awesome Weedle shirt designed by me (and printed at Allied Shirts)

The bro also got a shirt, a LotR coaster set, and a Millennium Falcon blue tooth speaker.

And I cleaned up with a neck pillow ala hubby (he pulled out the stuffings and filled it with corn so I could heat it up for my neck – yes, people have been thinking about my neck this year!), a demon Harry from mom (Harrys are a legitimate thing in our house, we have a whole bunch of them from when we were kids that mom made – I apparently don’t have any photos uploaded except for the last Harrys we got, which was probably ten years ago.), while the brother opted for a large towel pillow, however it is waaaay too big, so we have to do some alterations on it (yes, I have a thing for the towel-y texture of towels. I find it immensely comfy). And then Santa (aka also the hubby) saw fit to gift me with a Ninja Coffee bar and some coffee:

So I had to try that out:

Yummy!

Christmas day was really warm, and we had the big family dinner that I didn’t get any photos of. mainly because it was so short that what time there was I spent either in the kitchen cooking or eating. Not sure why it was so short, since the weather was nice, but it went well, so that’s what matters. Hubby and I had plenty of time afterwards to clean up, do dishes, do some internet stuff, and then go look at Christmas lights. Essex usually has an amazing display, but this year they didn’t have very much at all. I guess people there had the same problem I had with not really feeling it this year. Though I admit, I finally got to hear some REAL Christmas music on the drive there and back – you know, stuff that is actually about Jesus and the angels, and all the stuff Christmas is based on rather than “Happy Holidays” and “Baby it’s cold outside”, and all the other secular crap that Slacker and those kind of subscription services play (don’t dare play the real stuff, do we?) so that did give me a burst of Christmassy feelings right there at the end. Now I know next year to f*** Slacker and all the rest and listen to the local country station (yeah, not being a fan of modern country, who knew??)

Also, going to Essex gave me the chance to take some gyms, and have some fun Christmas Pikachu fights:

Monday we finally hit the AMC in Council Bluffs to see Rogue One:

It was a good movie, and we all knew how it had to end because none of those characters are in Episode IV. Which is a shame because they are good characters. Seeing a young Leia and Peter Cushing in the movie was surprising – the wonders of CG – and I did miss the last five minutes because I had to run to the bathroom *sigh* but we’ll buy it when it comes out, so not a huge deal.

So, there was my Christmas. Now we’re back to business as usual-ishness (at least until New Years weekend). Hope your holiday was just as good!

Have a ninja coffee maker kinda day!

Jo 🙂