Holiday Happiness

Well, the major excitement has come and gone.  And it's been a wonderful 36 hours-ish (so far).

Let's recap:

Got all the "things" done I needed to do before we went over the the ILs last night.  Things= appetizers for taking tot he ILs made + creme brulee for Christmas dinner dessert made (AND removed from the oven so as not to repeat last year's Christmas cheesecake debacle)+cinnamon rolls and frosting made (for Christmas morning).  Luckily, nothing involved me having to leave the house.  We all got ready for church (at ILs church), packed the car with gifts and food, and headed over to the ILs for the afternoon/evening.

We arrived to find the additional snow (3-4 inches) that morning had blown a transformer in the neighborhood and Xcel Energy was out fixing it.  Leaving the house electricityless.  Luckily it was only about 45 minutes before it came back on but we were unable to engage in our pre-church Tom and Jerry.  So, we did as my BIL said..."let's drink all the beer so it doesn't get warm".

Church was typical.  Be there 45 minutes before it starts in order to get a seat and we didn't even get to sit IN the church but sat instead in the lobby.

Back to the house for pictures:

Note the well coordinated outfits.  Black and Navy(me)/Green(husband)/red(the boy)/purple(DD1)/teal(DD2)/pink(Beanie).  Yes, well thought out in advance.  ALSO...see all those big bouncy curls?  My oldest daughter did both the little girls hair with...A STRAIGHT IRON.  Seriously.  There is an oxymoron in there somewhere.

Then Tom and Jerrys and appetizers.   This is how Tom and Jerry's work:

Then the gift giving began.  Kids first because, even at 630pm their patience was about as thin as it could get.  Lots of Aeropostale.  Lots of Bath and Body works.  Hit of the night?  Twinkle toes for Beanie, who promptly showed us that they lit up by striking them on her head.  Oh, and the boy FINALLY got his Percy jersey:

Then it was the adults turn.  White elephant time.  This was ALOT of fun.   My gift, stolen once thus safe, was a plaque with 100 favorite movie quotes.  My nephew ended up with it, claiming it was PERFECT for his apt.  The husband ended up with two bottles of Quaker Steak and Lube hot sauce, which was promptly used this morning on breakfast, and I "lucked" out with a bag of Crest, tooth paste, floss and massage oils.  Not sure exactly where the massage oils came in with the rest of the theme, but I'll make an effort to put to good use.

It was 11 when we packed everything up and headed home, which is actually pretty early.  We unloaded, put the kids to bed then "Christmased" up the house:

Surprisingly, the kids slept in until around 730. (I however had to be up at ungodly hour in order to get the cinnamon rolls out and to room temp to rise).  By time we got downstairs, we were greeted with:

And this:

Coach? Really Santa?  What the heck were you thinking?  Does he know her?  Has he seen her room?

I am happy to report, that despite the Christmas NOT being filled with excess, my children were all EXCEEDINGLY happy with their Christmas.  And as a parent, what more could you want?

So, the day was lazy.  I got the prime rib in the oven and somewhere around 3pm, I decided a shower was in order.  Yes, I stayed in my jammies til then, because I could.

Sister and brother in law arrived at  430.  I was carving the prime rib at EXACTLY 634, 4 minutes off of the ETD (Estimated Time of Dinner).  Dinner was Prime Rib...cooked to and EXACT medium rare, THE GRAVY (yes, it has to be capitalized because it is THAT good AND important), yukon gold mashed potatoes, steamed asparagus, drunken mushrooms, and the most PERFECT popovers EVAH!  A bottle of Franciscan Cabernet and a Caymus Cabernet.  All finished by Creme Brulee that was TDF.

Now...I'm going to go take a bath and contemplate how perfect this holiday has been.  And how blessed I am.