the big recap episode

Christmas came and went here at the old homestead. I cooked up the traditional fare around here: turkey, noodles, rolls,  mac and cheese, nasty* sweet potatoes with brown sugar and marshmallows. My daughter brought over mashed spuds and corn casserole. It was a veritable carbopalloza. We have plenty of leftovers to keep us in turkey sandwiches for a few days.

There were lots of presents for the grandgirls, and a little something for the kids. It was a gathering of family and that is never a bad thing.

On Christmas Eve we travelled to the land of my birth to celebrate with my dad and my brother and his wife in the afternoon and then went to my wife’s niece’s house for a pitch-in dinner. The wife has a big extended family and when all of them get together it is fun and loud and crazy. I always enjoy going there. The evening is topped off with a gift exchange among the kids and a white elephant gift exchange among the adults. I originally scored a scented candle and woman’s knit stocking cap. That was stolen and exchanged for a car wash set. After things wrapped up the wife made a side trade with one of her nieces to get a battery powered work light for the car chamois. The wife got a role of toilet paper printed with “here’s your crappy gift”. Not surprisingly, no one wanted to steal that one.

I hope you had a great Christmas and Hanukkah. May your Kwanza be fruitful or happy or gratifying. If you don’t celebrate those holidays I hope you have a good Thursday.



*one of the few foods in the world I refuse to eat, but the wife loves them, so I make them for her. Frankly, even the smell of sweet potatoes makes me want to gag.