Disaster Averted

 I had a mini crisis here in the Fine Martial household this evening.  But thanks to good old fashioned American ingenuity and a little luck, said crisis was averted.  And the way that happened is as follows.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  I'm sure you already know that.  Cody and Brennan are coming here to open presents, then we are going to Brennan's parents house for Christmas Day.  I'm not too sure about that part of it, but that's what Cody wants to do.  

They weren't going to come down here at all, but I asked Cody when he wanted to come get his gifts then.  I felt it would be pretty awkward for he and I to exchange gifts at Brennan's family's house.  After a bit of discussion, they decided to come here for the day, which is fine with me, because Christmas Eve has always been the big gathering time in my family anyway.

When I was a kid, every Christmas Eve, we'd go to my dad's parents' house first and get together with all the family on his side.  Then when we got home, my mother's parents would come to our house, and we'd open presents there, to make room for the stuff Santa would bring, my mother said.

Oh, the carefree days of childhood...

Funny thing, I'd written a letter to my sister a couple of weeks ago, and mentioned how badly I wanted us all to be together for Christmas one year.  Being all together in May was so much fun, and I truly felt "at home" for the first time in a long, long time.  Then, a day or two after mailing that letter, my older brother's wife messaged me and said the same thing -- how she wanted us to be all together for Christmas.  

But I digress...

All that to say, Cody and Brennan are coming down tomorrow for Christmas Eve, so I spent the last two days making cookies and candy.  Once the last batch of cookies came out of the oven, I decided to go ahead and mix up my sausage balls, so all I'd have to do tomorrow is roll them into balls and bake them.  Alas, when I went to get my box of Jiffy mix out of the pantry, the weevils had already found it.  Bummer!

I had to toss the whole box.  Unfortunately, that was the only box of Jiffy Mix I had.  No Bisquick, either.  The first thing I did was to google home made Bisquick mix...shortening?  Nah, I'm already tired.  I don't want to have to cut any shortening into anything...

I briefly thought that we'd have to skip the sausage balls this year, but instead of giving in to despair, I did what any red blooded American would do.  I dug through my cabinet, found a box of pancake mix, and substituted that instead.  They're basically the same thing, right?  Crisis averted, and we shall have sausage balls after all.  

Now comes the hard part -- cleaning up the kitchen.  Not looking forward to that!

In the midst of all that, I had a little surprise come in the mail today.  It was a box from my friend Kristine.  I debated on whether to open it now or wait until Christmas, but the temptation was too great.  I just had to open it.  The first thing I pulled out was some peppermint candies:

This is a brand I've never heard of, so I'm anxious to try them.  The second thing in the box was a pair of Christmas socks.  And I mean real Christmas socks, with a Nativity scene and wise men.

And the other side had a line from my very favorite Christmas carol.

It was perfect timing too, as I had to toss my last pair of Christmas socks last week after blowing out a toe.  Also in the box was a chocolate bar, and she even included a catnip toy for the cat.  How thoughtful!

The last thing in the box was this giant blob of plastic.  What on earth?  

I had to channel Indiana Jones a bit before I finally made it through all that plastic to find ...

this turtle mug!

She makes pottery along with her candles to sell at cons and conventions and things.  I've bought several of her candles, but never any pottery.  She posted this one a while back, and I don't remember if I mentioned how much I loved it, but apparently she did and so she sent it to me!  I squeed so loud I scared the dog.  And to top it all off, she added a Christmas card.

Thank you so much, Kristine!    You made my day.  Cutie says thank you for my toy, too!

And Merry Christmas, to you, too!