Christmas Eve Music, Joys and Dinners

 

For the kid in all of us

I  listen to these carols
every year on Christmas Eve

Wishing you peace

Now for the joys and dinners

Sunday: We began the day by going to church, then had our noon meal from a doggie bag we brought home from our Cracker Barrel lunch stop on Saturday. I wish restaurants would charge a little less and serve smaller portions, but until they do, we will leave with the leftovers. 

We had just finished eating when the doorbell rang. Son1's childhood friend stopped by to deliver coffee beans I had bought as a fundraiser for his daughter's band trip. We had a catch up visit with him, which was very nice.

I baked a couple of new to me recipes for Christmas cookies . One was delicious and the other will never be tried again. Such is life.

Later we watched a Christmas movie, then got our ducks in a row ready for a mostly busy week.

Dinner: Hot and Sour soup, egg roll (takeout from New China)

Monday: TheHub naturally waits until the week before Christmas to offer any suggestions he might have for Christmas wants/needs. He finally said something specific Sunday night, so I started looking online to see where it might be available. I did not want to run all over town searching when I could do the searching from my kitchen table and limit my trips to stores (and the possibility of futile trips). 

I found most of what he wanted at Belk and was able to order and pay online All that was left for me to do was to drive to the store and pick it up. When I got there and parked in the designated parking spaces, I called the number listed to find where in the store I should go pick it up. Surprisingly the woman who answered said she was not busy and would bring it to me. That was lovely, especially since my knee had been popping in and out of joint all day. Kudos to Belk, and yes I did tip her in spite of her initial refusal.

The rest of the day was spent wrapping those cookies Christmas gifts, listening to Christmas music,  getting the house in order, and reading.

Dinner: The racer, tabouli (takeout from The Pita Cafe)

Tuesday: The morning was spent doing laundry, not joyful except for having it done. Mid-day I celebrated Christmas with my bookclub. My friend C does Christmas decorating on steroids. There are touches and flourishes of Christmas on every surface in her home. Not only is it decorated to a T, but it is all so tastefully done. It is fun to go there, and if I did not know her attention to every detail I might leave feeling insufficient. Instead, we all accept that every single thing she does has a touch of magic and we are in no way compelled to compete.

Dinner: Soup

Wednesday: We were originally planning of having dinner in Tuscaloosa with BIL and SIL, but that was moved to Thursday, before it was cancelled entirely. Instead we met Son2 and DIL2 in a nearby town for dinner. Great food and greater company. (The service was so bad the restaurant comped our meal. Not sure if the wait staff did not turn our order in, or if the expediters did not pick it up and deliver it. Either way we waited almost an hour for our food.)

Dinner: For apps the table shared mushroom flatbread, and grilled artichokes with lemon hummus. I had raw tuna slices on an asian fusion salad. TheHub had grilled trout, broccoli and new potatoes with a table shared side of grilled Brussels sprouts

Thursday: I listened to Christmas music all day while I did laundry and did some reading. Talked to my cousin in Texas and caught up with all of their holiday plans.  In the evening I did not feel like cooking so I looked in the freezer for something I could toss in the air fryer. Thank you Trader Joe's!

After we ate we rode around looking at Christmas lights

Dinner: Corn dogs, coleslaw  

Friday: I had a few errands to run, but had surprise visitors right before I was headed out. Instead of shopping I had some laughs with DIL2 and Son2. Independence Place honors the Trussville school schedule for the Christmas break, so they have a couple of weeks off. Seeing them was much more important than any running around I wanted to do.

TheHub came home a little early, and agreed to go to the grocery stores with me, as long as I would go out to eat with him. Yeah, I am a lot of things but stupid is not one of them. Not only did I not have to cook, but since he went with me I had help getting the groceries in the house and put away.

Dinner: Mushroom burger or fish sandwich combo meals from Culver's

Saturday: TheHub and I took off in different directions to do a little last minute gathering of Christmas items. We met in the geographic middle to have lunch at a nearby deli before heading home for the rest of the day. Their French onion soup was fabulous.

I finished wrapping while TheHub watched bowl games.

One of the biggest joys I had was technology. Son3 and DIL3 are in Sweden for Christmas and they have been sending us photos of their trip.

I also had a long FaceTime visit with Pip. It is great to be able to share her Christmas excitement.

After dinner we drove through a few surrounding neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights. There are a few places with light and music playing on an FM station coordinated. The bad thing about them is because of the locations it is hard to find a place to park and watch them. One is on a well traveled street at a 4 way stop. There is really no place to pull off to the side of the road and enjoy the lights and sounds, so you just have to drive slowly and hope the other cars are there to slow down and see the decoration too.

Dinner: Soup and sandwich

What's up? Again I am making no meal plans for the week. We will enjoy it fully!