Our donut making went amazing! They were so yummy, and I ate the last leftover donut today -- it still tasted awesome! Last year I didn't help with the donut making...I just ate them. But, I felt a little guilty, and this year I was the only daughter around, so I helped. One SIL was in the basement working on Christmas gifts and the other SIL was at lunch with a friend. MIL had already made the dough, punched out the donuts and set them to rise...so my assistance wasn't needed until it was time to fry them up. The Colonel and I took advantage of being the only ones around when the first donuts went into the oil. I mean, c'mon, we had to make sure they tasted ok. My job was to glaze the donuts when they came out of the oil. I quickly got into a routine -- glaze one for the pan, glaze one for me, one for the pan, one for Colonel, one for me. I just didn't get why the pan wasn't filling up, but my belly was!
I didn't really eat that many, but I was stuffed when we finished. My FIL kept running in and stealing donuts to run around to people in town. The first batch he took went to the people who pulled him out of the ditch the other day. All the siblings must have smelled the frying dough because they showed up just in time.
Luckily, we had to leave for our Christmas Eve service which forced us to STOP eating donuts. We ran home to feed the puppies, then left to drive across town to meet SIL and BIL and the girls for Christmas Eve celebration at their church. First of all, their church is gorgeous (and all paid for - so cool!). There are wood beams and rustic light fixtures everywhere. They sanctuary was homey and decorated with a real manger on the stage. We sang Christmas hymns, listened to the pastor talk about what Christmas really means, watched snippets from The Nativity, took communion, and had a candle lighting ceremony. It was really fun to visit their church and to enjoy the service as a family. SIL's parents were there, too.
After all those donuts earlier in the day, The Colonel and I needed some real food. Too bad the only place we could find that was open was McD's...where the drive thru line wrapped around the building. Oh well. We got our food and headed home where I think we were in bed within an hour.
We were at the 'Rents by 11am (our given arrival time), where it was time to open gifts. Now, if you read my Christmas post from last year, you'll know that my ILs open gifts VERY differently than my family does. SIL Jayme was just as out of her element as I was, so we made a tactful suggestion to do it differently this year. And they agreed to try it! It took quite a bit longer, which was fine with me, and we even got to see what everyone got! It was much more enjoyable for me...let's hope it sticks!
My niece loved what we got for her, and I'm so glad, because I feel like I stink at picking out kids gifts...here she is as she starts on her hunt for all those animals (Go Diego, go!).
And even though we opened gifts in a much more organized fashion, the aftermath still looks a little scary.
We sat down for a family diner of Turkey and all the trimmings after we finished with the gifts. FIL carved the turkey, but MIL thought he needed an apron (or two) to protect his clothes.
I LOVE to play games, but The Colonel hates it as much as I love it, so I have to take advantage of the siblings being around. And at my suggestion, we played Chicken Foot (kind of like Mexican Train dominoes, but more fun). Of course, I ended up being the BIG loser. I had the most points of anyone (which is really bad in this game). Oh well, we still had fun, and The Colonel came made himself useful by running to the gas station for sodas all around.
By the time we finished the game, it was getting late and we were exhausted. We loaded up the car and headed home to the puppies. Christmas was over...it went by so fast!
But, we prolonged it as long as we could by meeting the siblings the next morning for some shopping and lunch before we had to head back to the real world. You can't miss those after Christmas sales!
1 comment:
it was a good christmas huh?
Post a Comment