Sunday, December 25, 2022

Christmas at Home

We had a pre-Christmas trip to Bass Pro shop to see Santa, and then to Buccees to get some beaver nuggets.   This was the night where the temperature was at like 8 degrees, and it was COLD!   That level of cold is crazy, and in the olden days would have truly been the death of me.   Santa was great, and told Ruby that he had gotten her letter, and planning to look through them all soon.   On Christmas morning he replied to her letter and hopefully gave her the courage to not bite her nails...and he also encouraged her to help her dad in that habit as well.  He laughed at Belle when she did not know what she wanted, but all were happy with any surprises.   

We tried a little of a lot of stuff at Buccees, and what did the kids want when it was 8 degrees outside...a slushie.   But at $1/each, everyone got their own....Merry Christmas to us all and God bless us every one.   The BBQ pork skins were ok, the BBQ sauce seemed to go very well with some turkey, Magan fell in love with the Praline fudge, and beaver nuggets is just crack for the good kids.   

Mr. Rick brought us a Christmas Eve turkey that he had fried that morning, and it was amazing.   I have always been a white meat guy, but hot off the bone fried dark meat is pretty amazing.   Mr. Rick was Sam's mentor last year, and Davis' mentor this year, and I don't think either of them ever want another mentor.   

Sam is the best at hanging pictures, and measures things perfectly.   So we know have like 12 pictures of the Eiffel tower in our living room, I assume as some point that Magan will put pictures of us in them.   The older frames were heavier, and started randomly falling very close to where heads are typically sitting watching the TV.   Magan felt like a frame smashing someone in the head was not a good idea, so the frames are being changed.  

Magan gave Ruby a christmas tree project that required about 100 layers of those little beads you ironed together.   So I helped my little girl by putting the 6 shades of green into individual piles so that we could make the tree.   I think somewhere in this project, I went a little color blind, and perhaps blacked out at the monotony of so many layers.   As Magan likes to kid, you would have never done that with Sam or Davis.   But with my sweet Ruby, those 4 hours were like ... ok it was like 4 hours of layer after layer, iron, another layer, iron, another layer....but we finally finished, and Ruby was happy...and I took a nap.  

Crazy Sam was outside with temperature in the teens working on his latest knives.   Dedication.   Outside because he was setting off the smoke detectors.   And then it was cookie making time.   Ruby made a snowman and some babies.   Belle made a little family that Santa thought was oompa loompas, but apparently that was incorrect.   And we all looked over at Sam, and he had completed like 15 iced cookies in the time it took us all to make three.   I just made one, and you can see the joy in my face when icing cookies.  

Christmas Eve is where we get to open all of the presents from the kids to one another, and their gifts to us.   I did not receive any Mike and Ikes this year, apparently because each of the kids thought the other ones would get them for me.  I did get some cool lego guys, a Bruno from Encanto, and some candy.   Magan got some eyelashes so she could be like Davis, and some of her favorite life saver gummies.   Belle made a cute pillow for Ruby.   Davis got a hot wheel of course, and a toy trash can (I got one of those too).   

After our gifts, we settled down and Mom read the 12 days of christmas book for Ruby.   Then we forced those kids to bed early so Santa would still come and visit.   And he did, bringing Ruby some Poly Pockets, Belle a Harry Potter lego set, Sam some disc golf stuff, and Davis a fault code reader for cars.  All were very excited, with Ruby's magic and excitement infecting the other kids as they all made it to the living room to then open all the presents from Mom and Dad.   All of them appreciated all the gifts, but the one that made the biggest mark was the new play house Magan got for Ruby.   We now have it up in the den downstairs, and Ruby has it completely decorated.   She sleeps at night in it whenever we will let her, and pulls the echo thru the window into her house so she can watch movies in there.   It is the cutest with a little bell that you have to ring on the outside so she will let you in.   

Christmas is a fun time at our house, but the extra bit of magic that Ruby brings is super special, and I love these times.   I love the smile and eyes go so big when she reads Santa's letter.   Setting alexa to go off at 6AM so she can run see what Santa brought.   Running outside in freezing temperatures to spread the reindeer food.   Elves doing silly things each night, and having one week to hang out with Ruby before Christopher goes back to the North Pole.   One day there will be a blog much shorter, and it will not have this paragraph.   But for now, I will just smile and remember an amazing Christmas day.   

 































































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