A Beautiful Christmas but a Bit of Worry

I was going to start posting some of my year end roundups. Not that you necessarily want to read them but they do me good. I thought I needed a record of my Christmas first though.

My beautiful babies. They were about an hour late which is exactly what I figured on. Perfect. They came bearing far more gifts than they should have bought for us.

You know, as I’ve been saying, ad nauseam no doubt, it’s a quiet Christmas giftwise, at least for us. I gotta say though, the boys and Trinity seemed to really appreciate what we had gotten them and their gifts were just beyond thoughtful. I got teary more than once.

I must give a huge shout out to Eroding Winds Records in Wisconsin (Osh Kosh and Appleton) for going above and beyond in getting this Aaron Lee Tasjan lp to us in time for Christmas. An independent record store with heart, doesn’t get much better than that, now does it? HIGHLY recommended! I was afraid Owen might have it or perhaps his friend Duncan had gotten it for him, but no, he didn’t have it, didn’t even know of it so he was incredibly excited, as only Owen can get. Thanks Eroding Winds, and ALT (Aaron Lee’s 2016 house concert with us will always be one of our favorites)!

A couple of Owen’s friends came by to give him a gift as well. It got incredibly loud and it made me so happy. There’s a Christmas song Ernie quotes that goes something like, “Momma always likes it when the house is loud.” I completely understand that.

Later we had brunch: ham, cinnamon rolls, Ernie’s biscuits (yes, two days in a row, a biscuit bonanza) and a tater tot casserole (I giggle every time I sat ‘tater tot casserole’). I’ve become somewhat obsessed with tater tots. We never had them growing up and I was always a bit jealous of the hot lunch kids because they sometimes got tater tots. The oven got turned off by mistake when we turned a timer off, which we didn’t notice until it was halfway done….soooo the the eggs were a bit dried out and honest to God, I think it would have been better without cheese on top of it. There’s always got to be a cooking mishap, right?

Also, does glazing a ham ever seem worth it? I just never taste it much. My recipe said for the last half hour but eh, I don’t know. The glaze tasted great (brown sugar, Dijon, ground cloves, a bit of cayenne and bourbon) but I just didn’t get much of the taste of it on the ham. Suggestions welcome. I feel as though I’m missing something.

Owen and Trinity had to take off early afternoon to head to her mother’s. Leo headed upstairs to talk to Tal (I can’t wait until she can be here with us), Ernie did dishes and I hung out with Hattie and admired the tree.

It all felt pretty perfect until I got a call from my sister Debbie from the emergency room in Boston. I’ll jump ahead and say she’s ok and back home, although they did keep her overnight. We were worried about another stroke. I’m still not entirely clear if we’re still thinking there possibly was a TIA, but she did have a UTI and pneumonia (sorry, Debbie if I’m giving too many details). They released her and she is now back home with her beloved cat, Aida! It was such a relief to talk to her today and hear she was home. I was so grateful to sink back into my Christmas happy languor.

Ernie said he read that Ray Davies once said something to the effect of the best days have both highs and lows. I’m not gonna argue with Ray Davies.

Onward to celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas.

By the way, my tourtière tasted wonderful, but my gluten free piecrust crumbled. Oh well, it still tasted like Christmas.

Onward. I hope your holiday, if you celebrated, was a good one.

Coming up: Wanders of the Year, Treatments of the Year, Food of the Year, and more.