Christmas 2015: Stops 1 and 2

The last 2 weeks have been a BLUR! I don't remember the end of December ever being so busy for me at home AND at work! On top of countless parties and hours prepping for Christmas, I had to work in my annual training for work, a Christmas party for a company I work for, driving to deliver treats to clients since our traditional cookie gift wasn't an option since the bakery closed, and then a 4 hour meeting with a client 1.5 hours away on Christmas Eve Eve.  My Elf shirt was perfect for this year.

Today I'm just going to go through Christmas with Danny's mom and Christmas Eve with Danny's extra family.

Last Sunday we had Christmas with Danny's mom. This included Danny's brother and his family, Danny's sister and her girls, and Danny's grandpa. I was in charge of dessert and I made Mix & Match Mama's Peppermint Brownie Trifle. It made a HUGE bowl and only about 4 people ate out of it. I left some for my mother-in-law and niece to eat for breakfast and took the rest home. I proceeded to eat that for breakfast for the next 3 days. Whoops. Danny's mom didn't disappoint on the gifts. I got Tom's Wedges (sooo comfy!), cutting boards (I forgot I asked for these), some fun yogas, and a $25 Ulta gift card. Tucker got some clothes from Aunt D and a fire and police station lego set, a train book and some tractors from Mamaw. I'm not entirely what all Danny got. I think he got some gun cleaning stuff and some DVD documentary set.

Christmas Eve was spent with the family that babysat Danny. I went simple with the gifts for these kids. Really all kids in our life, but mostly these. There are 9 of them, so spending any amount of money on them can add up. I did Movie Night baskets for those over 5 years old. The 5 year old got a Mickey book and the 2 year old got a Mickey tool set. Side note: I originally ordered these for Tuck but after his birthday and the amount toys that he got, I talked to Santa and we decided to give them to these kids instead.  

Food was soup, sandwiches and a snack. I had told one of the brothers about my dad's ham salad before and its a cheap thing to make considering the correct name is "Poor Man's Ham Salad" as it is made with bologna and not ham. 

Funny story about this ham salad. I cannot boil eggs. I can make homemade noodles from scratch, make a boxed cake taste like a bakery cake (thank you Pinterest) and can pretty much work my way around a kitchen. But I cannot boil an egg. If my life depended on boiling an egg, I would probably die. I tried too on Christmas Eve Eve and even asked Danny's co-worker how he does it since he never messes up. Yeah, it didn't work for me. So, at 7:30 pm on Christmas Eve Eve the Summers Family loaded up in the truck on the hunt for hard boiled eggs. Even Diesel went. I didn't want to risk another 8 eggs because eggs cost money, I needed 10 for noodles for Christmas Day and I needed perfect eggs for ham salad. 

So back to Christmas Eve. I was up until 12:30 Tuesday night assembling gifts and 12:30 again on Christmas Eve Eve making ham salad, drinking wine, and cleaning up. THEN on Christmas Eve, we freaking painted! My mom came up to entertain Tucker. I didn't even want to attempt to paint without him being completely occupied. Danny got the ceiling done and while I was doing the trim, we realized one gallon wasn't going to cut it. Danny went to Menards while I kept on painting. Our Christmas Eve as at 2pm and at 1pm I threw my roller down and sprinted to the bathroom. I was a sweaty paint covered mess. I was cleaned up, showered, hair and make up done, and we were loaded in the car and there by 2:15. Everyone is always late so I didn't feel bad.

We ate at 2, waited around for 3.5 HOURS for one of the siblings to get done Christmas shopping and wrap the presents she just purchased, to open gifts for 10 minutes. Everyone had a good time just hanging out so it was worth the wait I suppose.

We left Christmas Eve at 6:30 or 7 to go home and get ready for Santa. That is where I'll stop and hopefully pick up tomorrow!