recapping christmas 2015

much like the rest of the year, christmas 2015 was pretty wan-derful, i must say.  christmas eve was spent running around trying to get everything ready while still keeping things somewhat neat and tidy, which is always a difficult task.  and with the ILs all staying home for the holidays, the bean was really missing them amid all the hubbub.  while we waited in the car for the old lady and her special friend to run an errand, she decided to write them a little note.  i sent them this picture along with a text message:

back at home, we whipped up a quick batch of reindeer food to entice rudolph & co. to stop at our house:

and then we ate tamales and rice for dinner.

the bean and her daddy both decided to relax a little with a nice cup o'hot cocoa.

and then she said that because santa gets so many cookies and a ton of milk, she wanted to give him something a little healthier.  so she decided to put out a protein bar and some ice water to wash it down with.

when she finally went to bed, it was time for my annual gift wrapping extravaganza.  i'd found this roll of paper on clearance last year, stashed it under my bed, and promptly forgot about it.  i laughed like a loon as i started wrapping the old lady's presents in it:

as i was about halfway through, i remembered something - i needed to assemble the crock pot breakfast casserole.  so i stopped what i was doing and threw it all together so that it would have time to cook:

i was done earlier than usual this year - i think i finally got to bed around 1.

i'd told the bean to look at the clock when she woke up, and if it were any earlier than 7:00, she needed to sleep a little more.  when she burst into our bedroom with a hearty "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!" i checked my phone and found that she had indeed kept up her end of the bargain:

as everybody got up and brushed teeth and started trickling in to get the party started, i got my selfie stick out to grab some fun action shots.  except that as i snapped my phone into it, i heard a crack and found that my selfie stick, just shy of one year old, was no more. so, so, so sad.

meanwhile, someone was waiting very patiently.

we told her to start giving out the stockings while i figured out if i could make my old tripod work instead, and she was more than happy to help.

her sister was helping mollydog pull stuff out of her stocking:

and the hub made himself a nice cup of his favorite beverage - hot chocolate spiked with a little irish cream.

we even found the yule log on my computer, and it was the perfect touch for our morning of festivities.

testing out the tripod and remote...check!

i was happy to make our official family shot with matching pajamas happen - but we'd forgotten the dog, so we took another one.

there were no butt wipes in my stocking this year, yay!

the bean seemed pretty satisfied with the contents of hers, too.

everyone got at least one present from santa.  also, i love how the old lady's special friend is always camera ready.

the hub seemed especially excited to open his - a new briefcase from jack spade.

here's what i got - a sparkly new kate spade wallet.

it was a very kate spade christmas for me.

the old lady was happy to play santa and hand out presents.

and it was really fun to see her open a present from her sister.  the bean had worked really hard on this blanket for her, with help from MIL.  they'd spent several hours on it together, wrapped it up and left it in the guest room where it sat for two whole months before finally ending up in the hands of its happy recipient.

while i know this was officially the bean's favorite present:

she was also pretty excited to open this one.

the old lady had asked me to make a shark tail blanket for her special friend, but alas, i ran out of both time and materials.  instead, i created an IOU for him (which reminds me, i need to hit up the fabric store to fulfill this):

it was really funny to watch the old lady as she looked closely and realized that her gifts were wrapped in justin bieber paper.

the hub had asked me to open the small box last, and when i did, i was pretty blown away to find a familiar-looking box:

and then i totally teared up when i saw what was inside.  months ago, the hub had asked me what i wanted for our anniversary.  i'd half-jokingly sent him a couple of screen shots of rings i loved, and then he surprised me with one of them during wan-nivesary 10.0.  so i was legit shocked when i found the second one on christmas day.  he spoils me so.

remember the old view master toy?  with the reels and the lever that you had to pull to see the pictures?  well, that thing has evolved big time.  now, you download an app and place your phone inside and it's a virtual reality viewer of things from wildlife to outer space to traveling around the world.  it's pretty cool, and everyone enjoyed it.

we used the old lady's instant camera to take these:

and then it was time for breakfast.

later on, while the old lady and her special friend headed out to see her dad and then his family, i headed out for my annual christmas day 3-miler.

and then as we placed the prime rib roast into the oven to cook, we all headed out to the local movie theater to see star wars - finally!

when we got home, the house was full of the wonderful smells of the roast.  i whipped up a few sides, the hub carved the meat, and we all sat down to enjoy christmas dinner.

it was a very lovely christmas indeed.