I wanted to tell you about our Christmas, but as I began writing, it started sounding like bullet points in a Powerpoint presentation. You know, those dull things everyone sleeps through. I'm sitting here trying to rewrite this post into something you'd actually want to read, but it's not working out too well, because my brain just seems so dull. Is this what it's like to be dumb? Because if it is, I don't like it!
Enough complaining, on to your regularly scheduled post...
In my family, it's always been a tradition on my dad's side to get together with the extended family on Christmas Eve and open gifts. We'd all go over to my Mammaw's house with the aunts and uncles, and all the various cousins. We've kept up that tradition up until Mike, Dennise and the kids moved to Tennessee, and Beverly and James moved back to Texas.
Even though it would just be Cody and me this year, I still made cookies and candy for Christmas Eve,
and we watched some movies.
Cody had had to work, so he drove down after his shift. Poor kid had been up since 3:00 AM, and fell asleep right in the middle of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. He finally got up and went to bed around 9:00.
The next morning, we got up and opened presents. I was going to wait until after breakfast, but he was so excited to give me his gift...but more about that later.
Cody had asked for a tool set, because he's started doing his own mechanic work on his car, so that was his main gift. I got him one that had lots of sockets and drives, and extenders, and allen wrenches -- in both metric and standard. He seemed to really like it, and said, "That'll do just fine."
By the way, he has lost so much weight this last year. He'd gotten really big, but when he got involved in hurricane cleanup after Harvey, he started losing, and just kept going. He looks so good now.
We're just not going to talk about his hair....
This is another family tradition, that we lay out all our gifts and take a picture of them. Here is Cody's loot:
I really surprised him with those graphic novels. He was like, "How did you know?" And I was like, "I know how to stalk your Amazon wish lists." He was also thrilled with the new lounge pants. "These are nice," he said. And yes, Cyndye, that is some Chupacabra rub I got him.
Funny story, that little round thing in the bottom left corner is a socket thing to fit his oil filter in his car. He'd told me he'd looked everywhere and couldn't find the right size. My google fu kicked in and before the echo of the message notification sound had even died away, I found and ordered one. Yeah, I still got it...
This is my loot:
The TARDIS teapot is from my brother Scott and sister in law Paula. Cody brought me the Lindor Truffles. Would you believe me if I told you I'd never had any? They're pretty good.
My mother and older brother sent me money, which I used to order a more powerful set of binoculars. I have a little money left, but am waiting to see what my sister sends before I order anything else.
Now for the bad news is, Cody had ordered me a little wax melter for my sealing wax.
He was so excited to had me that gift, as soon as he got up, he ran and brought me the box. Alas, when I opened it, the little bowl part was broken off. I think he was more disappointed than I was. I thought maybe I could superglue it, but the glue I have just wasn't bonding. I finally packed it back up and got it ready to return. Since they're going to credit my Amazon account, I went ahead and ordered a replacement. I found one, same product, but for about $8 less than what he paid for that one. I told him, "That's enough for you to get me some more wax, too." He said, "Cool."
You know, he's going to make someone a good husband some day, because he always seems to know just what gift to give. Last year, when I was really into fountain pens, he gave me a brass fountain pen. This year, it was the wax melter, which I was really hoping someone would give me. I kept moving it to the top of my wish list, thinking if it was first in the list, surely someone would get it for me. Cody did, saying, "It seemed like the most important thing."
For our Christmas dinner, Cody made homemade gumbo, from scratch, including the roux. Here we see the adult male offspring finely chopping celery
as opposed to his maternal unit who lops it into large chunks. Because she can't be bothered to finely chop anything. That gumbo was really good, too. It was so good, I asked Cody if he'd ever considered going to culinary school. I'm sure there are some in Memphis. He's always been a good cook. I remember one time when he was about 14, he found some deer meat in the freezer, and asked me if he could cook it. I said, "Sure" because any time I don't have to cook is a good thing. He just started pulling spices out of the cabinet and dumping them in, and it turned out really good. He's got that knack.
His final project for the day was to hang my mantle.
He got the short side up, then realized that because the boards at that inside corner were mitered, there was no way we could get both sides up with the brackets I'd bought, because you have to slide the boards straight on to them.
He left that side up, and I moved my nativity off the top of the gun cabinet onto it. That's where I'd always planned on putting it anyway. Cody is going to buy some boards and build me an all new mantle. He doesn't yet know when he will be able to do that, because he doesn't yet know when his next day off will be. I said, "I've done without a mantle for 3 years now. I can last a few more weeks."
We're going to consider this a dry run. A practice round, if you will. I'll use those boards for shelves in my shop, so it's a win-win.
Oh, I take that back. His final project for the day was to make home made habanero hot sauce -- using my utensils. That stuff was so hot, it made my eyes water in the other room. I didn't dare even to taste it. Cody did, and quickly went running for the saltines and milk.
Today, I got out and hit the clearance sales, but since this post is already long enough, I think I'll wait until tomorrow to tell you about that.
For now, I'm going to go sit in a hot bath for a while...
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