Some of my favorite things to do in life: open presents, eat good food, and spend time with Hubby. You can imagine my joy at getting to do all three in one day!
Christmas was a joy at our house! We slept in, not having any little monkeys to jump on our bed at 4:00 AM insisting that they find out what Santa brought for them. Hubby went to the living room to fire up the tree lights and the furnace. Once it was warm enough to leave the warm covers, we headed to open some goodies from under the tree.
It probably goes without saying that every day this past week, I've asked if we could open a present. Not all of them. Sheesh, I'm not like that! But one here and there. Unfortunately, I married a stickler, and the only way to get those presents opened was to actually wait for Christmas morning.
Also making it fun was that an additional present arrived for me every morning. I would head out to the living room and find that Hubby had not only turned on the Christmas tree for me to enjoy all morning, but he had added yet another thing underneath the fake branches for me to shake and poke and prod. It was fun. Almost like a mini-Christmas each morning. He's thoughtful like that.
Before the magical morning arrived, however, we made treats and delivered them to friends, family, and neighbors. I guess we got a little carried away, since we made twenty-eight treats and had to deliver them over two nights. It was fun to visit people and leave them some peanut butter cookies with Reeses and Hershey Kiss middles, and some pretzel Rolo and Hug treats as well. I found some cute boxes at Marshall's weeks ago and could hardly wait to get them into people's hands. Honestly, the best part about Christmas is the giving.
But don't think that I didn't thoroughly enjoy Christmas morning!
Hubby is a tricky guy. He doesn't really need anything and wants even less. He wouldn't tell me a single thing that he wanted for Christmas other than a knife sharpener, which I bought for him weeks ago. So I kind of had to wing his Christmas. I think I did pretty well, and he seems to agree! He got a knee pillow to help his old, aching back, some new pajama pants, and a Leatherman Squirt from me, tickets to a Suns game (thanks, Ji and Jolene!), a gift card to Walmart (thanks, Mick and Donna!), and $50 for our favorite place, The Cheesecake Factory (thanks, Mom and Merrill!). Hubby had a great Christmas morning.
I scored even more, though. As always.
I opened the CD-shaped package first, hoping it was one of the OneRepublic albums that I've been wanting. It was, and I was happy! The next package was one of my favorite books growing up as a kid, A Walk In Wolf Wood, by Mary Stewart. Next I opened Mount & Blade and was very happy that he had used its packaging to sneak in another OneRepublic album! Such a smarty pants to know I would figure it out. I also got a brick...in with a book about how to start my own part-time food business (a.k.a. Hubby'a retirement plan). We still have a dream of opening a baking company someday. Did you know that? I also got a cookbook from my Amazon wishlist from Eating Well. Very cool...especially since I feel like I've been eating sugar non-stop for three weeks! (I have).
But the greatest (and certainly the heaviest) thing all day was my Cuisinart Food Processor! I've been wanting one of these puppies for ages, and it certainly didn't disappoint. I've already used it to make three things, you know. I love it! It's going to make life in the kitchen even easier! Hubby disappeared one night to go to Macy's...and since that isn't a place he frequents on his own, I had my fingers crossed that it was for something food processor-ish. Yippeeee! So now that I have one, what do you want me to make for you?!
After presents, we snuggled until it was time to go to church. After a beautiful choir of Christmas songs (I already miss Christmas music, by the way), we were home by 12:30. It felt like we still had an entire Christmas Day to enjoy! I made some Christmas dinner (slow cooker ham, Funeral Potatoes, and a broccoli salad). We drank it all down with some Martinelli's Sparkling Grape Apple Juice. This isn't just the Idaho in me speaking, but the best part of the meal was certainly the cheesey, gooey Funeral Potatoes.
Then we watched some of the NBA games (today was the opening day post-strike) and popped in A Christmas Story to enjoy. I had never seen it all the way through, though I've seen most of it during the 24-hour marathon each year. Our last movie of the day was my personal favorite, White Christmas. Then we read scriptures and went to bed!
It was a wonderful Christmas. I love that it was just me and my Hubby. We didn't have to be anywhere or get out of our pajamas once we got home from church. We got to play with our fun new toys and just enjoy a rare day of spending time together. It was a treat. A perfect day, really.
Did you know that Christmas is only 364 days away?