Things I learned this Christmas:
- Honeybaked Ham is amazing, and such a time saver, and delicious. So worth it.
- Always have a back-up sous chef (or several). Tyler got some kind of bug and had to stay out of the kitchen all week. My dad came to the rescue!
- Rhodes rolls are too finicky for an important meal, get already made rolls to heat up instead.
- Always wear good shoes while standing in the kitchen all day, I messed up my back the first day by wearing “cute” shoes instead of ones with good support.
- Even if someone is over 80 and technically gets a pass to say what they like, it doesn’t mean they won’t still say things that hurt your feelings (getting told I was fat while in the middle of making Christmas dinner kind of killed the spirit).
- Make more lists, with start times on them to simplify cooking, like G&D did, I will do this next time for sure.
- 2 year olds make for great entertainment, and sous chefs
- Tyler does not kick as much ass at Trivial Pursuit when he’s sick, I should have booted him to the other team 😉
And now for some pics!
Karis and Lucas in the table that we re-did, Sarah did an amazing job painting it. Brought Granny to tears.
here’s a better pic of it, see the previous post (scroll down) to see the “before” pic from when my grandpa made it 21 years ago.
In lieu of going to a Christmas Eve service we sang carols at home, it was great!
Christmas morning, Tyler was asleep on the couch most of the day.
bwahahahahaha! I am one mean pug mama!
Jessi and Karis ski jumping on the wii fit
I think he was sad his daddy was sick, also sad when Karis left, they loved chasing each other around.
Me and Karis, she’s wearing the apron we gave her for Christmas.
Pugs Not Drugs 
I’m sorry about what Granny said. Mama told me and I was like “…NO WAY.”
I’m also sorry I didn’t come back for Christmas dinner. To be honest I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until about 9:30! Too much happening lately, it had me all worn out.
Anyway, I love you and I think you are fabulous.
Oh I can relate to the old relatives who have said similar comments to me, along with ones like “well why aren’t you married” and then they speculate on the potential reasons. I struggle a lot with being respectful to my (really old) elders because I DON’T think being old means you get to say whatever the hell you want, and yet I’m not willing to really call them out on it.