Christmas Encores

Upon returning from an eventful trip to Houma, we needed a little downtime before catching up with my family. The kids, however, were already a week and a half into Winter Break and suffering some cabin fever. I caved to their pleas and came over for a bit to see their new Kinect games.

Ghost was not amused.

And then, because I hadn't overexerted myself enough, my sister and I went on Target adventures the next day. We checked out their optical, where she convinced me to try on trendy ridiculous frames. All of those photos have conveniently vanished.
Then, as we awaited a prescription order, we hipstered up at Starbucks. She was pleased to discover the barista had put a generous amount of whipped cream on her latte.

Somewhere between the 26th and the 31st I managed to get a nap or something, despite my siblings' insistence in including me in their holiday fun, because I was on point for New Year's Eve.

#nomakeup #nofilter #imadorkiknow

We went to see Dad's family for late Christmas, which was unexpectedly pleasant. I say this not because of family, but because Husband and I both failed to mind the weather and make arrangements for Sam ahead of time. We ended up bringing him along at the last minute, expecting to say hi and need to leave since we hadn't warned anyone.
As is the usual with Sam though, he charmed the hell out of everyone and we had a nice evening.

If that wasn't enough, we followed that up by seeing the new year in at my parents' house and exchanging our belated gifts too.
I managed to finish Rachel's blanket on time. She and Mom opted to break it in immediately.

Even Ghost gave it a test ride and purrs of approval.

Lots of useful, clever, and sweet gifts were exchanged. We were so caught up in talking smack at Ryan Seacrest though that I have no good shots. Trust me when I say there will be photos of them in action!

Speaking of action, Dad and I made it our mission to make Mom look like a lush.

We ran out of glasses to toast with the sparkling cider, so Mom opted to hit the bottle.

It was a good day.

About a week and a few more silly nights with the kids later, it was time for Mom's family to finally get together.

With the way my year has been going, and especially the hide-in-the-bedness I was embodying for the season, I still had not wrapped their presents. Mind you, they had been in the fridge for weeks, since I had it all planned to be ready in time for Christmas in case we were home this year.

I still managed to put these together the morning of, and I think they came out awesome.

It's a holiday care package of wine, cheese, sausage, and chocolates. I know how to comfort.
Not only were we getting together for late Christmas, but we were going to have food! Yaaaaaaaaaas

Great Grandma takes her time eating. I think it may be calculated now because she knows my sister will hang out and spoil her with whatever she wants (read: not really allowed) to eat. It's nothing harmful, just a lot of adorable old lady toots, and my sister likes seeing her happy.

You know who wasn't happy? Sadie. No one gave her any people food. She had to have kibble, like some kind of animal. I'm not familiar with that face at all.

Look!

Look at all the gifts being exchanged!

I remembered to camera this time!

Grandpa was feeling generous and even gave me Husband back for the day, adorned in ribbons and all.

All kittens love boxes, all of them.

And gramma tickles.

This slowly quieted down to the ongoing tradition of spreading out on the floor and coloring, possibly one of my favorite family traditions.

At one point our baby cousin, whom Great Grandma absolutely loves, decided he was going to share all of his presents with her, which is how I got one of my favorite shots.

Lots of feels later, and we found ourselves at home, slow cooking a turkey and wanting company.
From October through January I cook a lot of "holiday" dinners because turkey and ham are so cheap, and Husband and I just really like things we can douse in gravy. Since turkey is impossible to get in small sizes, it was a convenient precedent to invite the family over.

I was hoping it would be my parents and the kids, since This Fuckin' House has really shaped up aesthetically, but sadly Dad was overworked and under-sleeped, so we only had kids over.
It worked out great, since I got to do a lot of kitchen teaching and they brought over their games. Many x-box adventures were had, and then there was refrigerator pies.

 My sisters are ridiculous creatures. I have no idea where they might have learned that from.