Christmas!!!

I know... it's like a week late. But I posted my Thanksgiving stuff almost a month late! So this is actually early. ;)

This year, for the first time ever, Wayne and I stayed home for Christmas. It was just us and the Jackalope and it was the best Christmas... best DAY... of my entire life. No kidding. First, on Christmas Eve, we made sugar cookies for Santa:

This is the one he actually picked for Santa.

Wayne and I put Jack to bed and watched "Love Actually" (my favorite movie ever!) while we put together his cute little bike. His annoyingly frustrating, worst instructions in the history of the world bike... from which we removed the front brakes from because it was retarded and wouldn't work correctly. Plus, why the hell does a 3 year old need hand brakes on a 12 inch bike?? We also finished wrapping the Santa presents and stuffing each others stockings. Then, I took some pictures:





So, the next morning rolls around and, because we're horrible parents and have locked Jack in his room, we are awakened by screams of, "MOOOOOMM!!! Is it MOOOOORRRRNIIIINNNNGGGG TIIIIIMMMME?? DID SANTA COME?!" We rush to let the prisoner out and I run into the living room so as to video the momentousness of the first Christmas that he actually gets it. (Which, I'll have to upload and add to FB later.) It was amazing. Awesome. Beautiful. Funny. Everything I could ever have wanted to experience. He ran into the living room and said, " Is that bike for me?!!" Awwww. Love. Serious serious love.
We make him sit and wait patiently in his little comfy chair while we pass out the presents... Wayne turns on his "fireplace" - a DVD from Target's Dollar Spot that turns our big screen into a roaring fire - and the Christmas music. Then we let him unwrap every single thing he got. The first present he went for? The one he'd been talking about for weeks - the only thing he asked Santa for - the only reason we got a picture of him with Santa at all. I don't know how he knew it was in there, but he did. A big rig with "Hot Wheels" type cars in the back that he'd seen at Target. After that, it was a blur of wrapping paper, Batman figurines (the bad guys), remote control vehicles, Nerf dart guns and Nerf swords. He was beyond excited. Wanted to rip everything from the packages and play with it all at one time. I think we opened the big rig so that he could explore it while Wayne and I opened our gifts.


We made our phone calls to the family, ate some super yummy sausage balls (a Decker family tradition), and just hung out. It was the best Christmas I can remember. I just teared up everytime I looked at my beautiful little family - even when they were trying to "kill" each other with their new dart guns and swords.
I made an awesome turkey, with stuffing, mashed potatoes (which Wayne made), gravy (Wayne again) and green bean casserole (fresh green beans, that I cut French style). I made waaaayy too much food and we ate on it for days - and ended up having to throw some away.


Beyond presents (which Wayne did very well picking out!) and food (best turkey I've made, yet!), there existed an indescribable feeling of peace and love and happiness. It was truly the happiest day of my life to date. Which is the best birthday present - it's what I wished for everytime I blew out those candles before I met Wayne and he made all my dreams come true.

Firewall, schmirewall! I want my freaking blog!

Holy bejesus, it's been a long ass time since I blogged! I actually missed this mess of randomness that only 4 other people read. (Literally - 4 people. Sad, really.) But, I love it. And I've missed it. Since I found out today it's some weird ass setting on my firewall/internet options/who the fuck knows what in Internet Explorer and I can access Blogger if I use Mozilla Firefox, I'm baaaaack!! Yay!
I have so many things I could share! Guess I'll start with Thanksgiving:

Erin and I planned an amazing feast for 14 people. We rented tables and chairs to seat everyone. I went out and bought tablecloths (natural linen from Ross for $10 each), new white plates (hello, World Market?!), and new square white serveware (1 very large platter from Target that was to-ho-tally incorrectly marked at $4.97, and 2 very large bowls from Marshall's for $9.99 each). All of them are things I've wanted anyway AND very good deals, so I really don't feel bad about it. And I think I'll probably go back and get the salad plates from WM, too. Someday. haha

My menu consisted of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, pecan pie and apple pie. Erin took on ham, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, corn bread casserole, rolls, pumpkin pie. She may have made something else, but I'll get to why I can't recall shortly. Oh - and I made some awesome sweet tea - Bill and Erin said it was just like back home. Oh, yeah. I was going to borrow my friend's spouted beverage container, but we found a 2.75 gallon one on sale at Marshall's for $20!! Yay, me! Our friend Steph brought some pumpkin goodies, too! Cookies and such. Big ol' hit.

You may remember we'd planned to do a tablescape including white mini pumpkins? That plan went bust in a hurry as we searched and searched for them. I even went to the Food Co-op in Bisbee. Wayne and I picked up some green and cream colored gourds - unusual and pretty. Our genius plan was to carve the tops out so we could use them as candle holders. Cute, right? Best laid plans... Wednesday night, Erin and her daughter, Brittany, came over to set the table. We pull our pretty gourds out and... mold. Seriously. Luckily, the cheap little pumpkins I had from mid-October were still good so we threw those on the table instead. No one can accuse us of not going with the flow!! All in all, the table turned out beautifully. But I'll let you be the judge:

The kids had slightly different settings but sat at the table with us:

I think it all turned out great!! We made the napkin rings out of felt and the place cards were a last minute project I printed from a Microsoft template and glued to leftover cardstock scraps that I tented so they'd stand up.

Here are some pictures of my pies:




And finally, the twenty pound turkey. Wayne and I brined it for 12 hours prior in a mixture of broth, water, kosher salt, lemons, garlic and herbs. I basted it every 30 minutes with broth and olive oil. Isn't it soooo pretty?? I thought it was a little dry, but everyone else seemed to like it.


Here's the kicker: Wednesday night, as Wayne and I were finishing up some cleaning and getting ready to go to bed, I said to him, "Weird. My throat kind of hurts." Little did I know I'd wake up the next morning feeling just awful. My throat was severely swollen and I spent the morning wearing a mask while I prepped the food, just in case I was contagious. By the time dinner rolled around, I was completely out of it and didn't taste a single thing I ate. I'm sure Erin's food was absolutely delish, but I couldn't taste it at all. I passed on the wine because my head was so foggy. Everyone seemed to have a great time. I think. It's all kind of a blur to me. I do remember digging out my favorite Christmas blanket and wrapping all up in it. I was freezing... only after everyone left, Wayne took my temperature and discovered a 102 degree fever. Niiiice.

Two days later, at 5 a.m., we put Jack in the car and headed out for Austin... But that's a blog for a different day.