Happy Boxing Day!

I have been a very busy body for the last four days! Today was 'Turn off the Tree Day' for me. That actually happened yesterday but I was headed to bed and figured it's sometimes best to be ahead of yourself. The dishes, on the other hand, are about three days behind. I've not a single baking utensil clean in that kitchen.
I baked 25 dozen cookies, made 5 Activity Books, Made a glittery 3 x 3 inch box with a lid, put up the Tree and decorated the livingroom and a wrapped a whole bunch of presents in the last six days. And that's not even including the four parties I've been to in the last four days! I'm whooped.

Ronnie, Terah, Brenton and Annabel came to see me on the 23rd. They were here for about seven hours. I fed them fried potatoes with onion and keilbasa for supper before they headed out ahead of the storm that is blowing out as I type. We exchanged gifts, had some laughs, mauled Annabel and generally had a great time. I am the very proud owner of two new sets of markers! (I'll show what I've created with them tomorrow.) New colors. Total of 24 colors, two sizes of marker. I'm in hog heaven! I also got some really cool bath things. Gives me a reason to get into that garden tub in the corner of my bathroom. A nice long soak in a hot tub would feel pretty good on this tired old body of mine! I've wore it out. It needs a good long rest, I think.
That bath won't happen tonight, but it sure does sound like something to put on the list of what needs done!
Was good to see the oldest son and his family. They got me a new cell as well as the markers I like so well. I promptly lost that cell phone in a drunken game of poker 36 hours later.
Christmas Eve Afternoon Richard, Lue, Gage, Grant, Gabe and Gavin spent a few hours here with me. Others were present also, as they were the day before when RJ's brood was here. Ma, Sam, Susan, Courtney, Justin, Me, and those named previously. We also had an extra dog in the house as Scoot came along with J and C. No biggie.
It is quite noisy in a house when there are that many people in it and four of them are under the age of eleven. RW acts like he's not quite 12 yet sometimes regardless of the fact he's actually 25.
They gave me the gifts of their presence and more hugs than one person deserves in a day! RW scooped some snow for me as well.
We had an excellent day with number 2 son and his bunch.
Christmas Day the snow was blowing and going! We had about 8 inches on the ground by Christmas Morning. The wind was blowing steady at 30 miles per hour, gusts up to 45 mph. The temperature was a whole 2. Not sure what the windchill was but it was not fit for man nor beast outside on Christmas Day.
Round about 11 Sam showed up at my house. He knew he had to brave the cold & blowing snow because he'd never hear the end of it if he missed Christmas Day when he only lives 2 miles away. I asked him to pick me up at my house cause it was way too cold out there to walk across the back yard to Susan's house where everyone was gathering. Everyone being: Justin, Courtney, Aunt Sherry, Sam, Me, Susan, Jerry, Linda and Ma. What a bunch! LOL Sam's a good brother so he did just as he was asked to do. We were due at Susan's by noon. We got there about 15 after. Fred had to go with us cause Fred can not be trusted in the house alone. Susan let him come inside at her house. That's a treat for Fred cause he doesn't always get to go inside at her house.
Dinner was yummy, and noisy. Noisy because we are noisy folks. We had turkey, dressing, broccoli with cheese sauce, cranberry salad, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn and rolls. I made the broccoli with cheese sauce. That cheese sauce reminded me of gravy...thick milk gravy. It was tasty as all get out but it LOOKED like pale orange gravy. Sam put it on his mashed potatoes cause he thought it WAS gravy. It was a big hit nonetheless. I didn't bring any home with me.
There was pumpkin crisp and somekind of cake with white icing and chocolate pie for dessert. I did not have any dessert because I wasn't in need of a sugar fix.
I got some cool things for Christmas! I'll give the best I got from everyone.
Susan gave me ..... she gave me a few things I really like! The big green candle holders are quite nice and the little man figurine is just too funny. I collect men, you know. So I always get at least one man for Christmas. This one is a middle aged balding fella with a pot belly laying on a beach chaise with a drink in his hand, flowered shorts upon his mid section and red umbrella waving on a metal spring above his head. It is adorable! She also gave me (and everyone else also) a Hickory Farms Gift Pack. I ate the whole thing last night! It was DELICIOUS!

Linda gave me...2 poetry anthologies which I will read from cover to cover eventually.

I forget what Aunt Sherry gave me. It'll come to me when I put all that stuff away, but it escapes me totally at the moment.

Justin and Courtney gave me a nice little silver metal box with a fairy on the front of it.

Jerry gave us all a tin of cookies.

After we opened pressies at Susan's we bundled up and rode on over to Ma's house, which you all know is right next door to Susan's house. It was terriblyl cold out there and the wind was blowin' '90 miles an hour'! Walking was out of the question!
Fred was banished to the outside for the duration of our stay at mother's house. He's too big and that tail is way too lethal for the likes of the magazine picture setting in Ma's livingroom.
We opened more gifts at Ma's house. She gave me many things! Among them a goodly amount of glue sticks, 2 bracelets, many elephants, and a lot of other things that escape me at the moment. The thing I like the best that Ma gave me is a small stained glass cross done in green with a little metal tag that says "Bless My Dog". It made me smile big time!
After we all opened our presents there I stuck around at Ma's house while Sam took Aunt Sherry back to town and everyone else had gone to Susan's house or gone home.
Ma had let Fred in her house right before Sam left. I didn't know she had done that till Fred came into the livingroom where I was. As I said, it was terribly cold out there on Christmas Day and she said,the same as Susan had said, "It's too cold out there for Fred." I wasn't arguing with them, it was too cold out there for Fred. Thing is Ma never has ever let Fred in her house! Ever! Just kinda floored me and made me all giddy at the same time. You know? It was all good. Fred was as happy as a little clam in a mud bank. His tail is lethal! He only whacked one thing off the end table by the sofa...a little green glass tree.
So that was a good thing....
Christmas Day ended around 9pm when Sam and I finally headed to our own houses and Jerry and Susan headed to town to spend the night at Jerry's house. We played poker and drank Jack Daniels and Coke for about three hours. I only had 1 drink and I didn't even finish it. I don't like the taste of Jack Daniels and I didn't care to puke my guts out on Christmas Day! I had fun in the state I was in. I wasn't drunk, but I was buzzed. I lost my new cell phone in that poker game. I had very little in my pockets to begin with. We didn't plan this poker game, it was a promptu affair. I was taking pens out of Susan's basket and using them to bet with! I figured I better throw in something that belonged to me besides half a cigarette and a lighter. I never did actually win that cell phone back. Susan did put it back in the pot once, but I got a lousy 2 lost it back to her again. So technically, she owns my cell phone... I did lose it fair and square. She also owns Sam's watch. She was gracious enough to give them back to us to keep in our possesion though. She will not let us forget this.
Then today marked DAY 4 of the holiday parties. I was elected to ride to Elaine and Monty's with Sam at noon. No problem even though neither one of us wanted to even get dressed and go anywhere, let alone 23 miles north in blinding snow. We did it though. The north south roads were clear. Driving was not a problem. The wind was a bit much but doable. It wasn't near as cold today as it was yesterday!
We had turkey noodle soup, some cheesy potatoes, pumpkin pie, lemon meringe pie and chocolate pie (as Elaine announced....all courtesy of Marie Calendar). And tasty devils they were too! I really don't know if the pumpkin or chocolate pies were tasty. I didn't eat any of those. I had lemon meringe and it was tasty!
Elaine gave me a pair of bright red fuzzy socks and some foot lotion. I love my new socks! They will keep my feet toasty warm!
While we were in Pburg, Sam and I tried to find #2 son to give him a present from his Aunt Linda. I had brought it with me. We went to his house but couldn't even get in the driveway there and the van wasn't there anyway so we went to Subway to see if Lue was working. There's the van in the parking lot. Cool. I put that plastic sack I'd grabbed from the counter in the kitchen into the driver's seat of their van. Sam and I drove back to Stockton and I came home. I walked into the kitchen and there's a plastic sack sitting on the counter in the kitchen. I forgot there were two of them to begin with. The one I took with me felt the right weight to be a loaf of banana bread and pan of candy. I never bothered to take a look inside of it. I opened up the sack on the counter in the kitchen and there was the banana bread and candy. The sack I put in the front seat of their van contained my blue and white glass casserole dish.
About the time I discovered I'd grabbed the wrong sack, Lue was getting into the van finding the wrong bag. She told me she wondered who put it there, but 'way cool' cause she doesn't have a dish that big. She thought someone had given it to her for Christmas a day late.
She just laughed when I told her what I had done. I gave her the casserole dish, told her to keep it. I have another one that looks exactly like it the kitchen cupboard. Only difference between them is the one in the cupboard is an ugly yellow color.
It all worked out and we all got a good laugh. I haven't told Sam about it yet....He will give me hell. LOL It's all good though.
It was good to see Monty and Elaine today. Elaine loved her Christmas Card from me. Come to think of it, everyone loved those cards... I didn't make them. I bought them on clearance a few years ago for 25 cents each. They have little wooden pieces on them. They are stand up cards. Very cute. I was glad everyone got a kick out of them.
Only things left to do to see Christmas out the door is do up all the baking untensils that are scattered about the kitchen and take down the tree.
I'm glad the chaos is over and peace can once again reign for a bit.

I didn't forget the reason for the season. My grand daughter is the new life and it was He that gave all of us life. Love abounds because of Him.

I hope you all had the happiest of holidays. Regardless why you celebrate the Christmas Season, or how you celebrate, may it have been a joyous celebration. Peace, my friends! 831