Ben dropped Camille off last Friday afternoon for a sleepover and we had fun setting up the Right/Left Christmas game to play on Christmas Eve, we did a little watercolor painting, had pizza, and watched the movie “Slumberland”. Camille had seen it before, but she thought it would be one that I would like too.
On Saturday, we baked the Cranberry Cake and Hot Butter Sauce for our Christmas Dessert and found plenty to stay busy with until it was time to head to their house. Charlotte kept calling to see when we would be there, anxious for the Christmas Eve activities to begin. The last thing that Camille wanted to do here was for us to do each other’s makeup and she drew a really cute picture of the different makeup options.
Jill made her Grandma Quinn’s Mulligan stew and blueberry muffins for Christmas Eve dinner and then we proceeded to open gifts until the girls just wanted to play with the ones they had, so we went downstairs and watched the latest version of “The Grinch”. This year the girls could shop at their school for gifts for their family members and they really put some thought into the gifts that they chose. They were so excited and had to keep the secret since early November. I got a pretty scented hand sanitizer from Charlotte, Mini Lip Balms from Norah and a fancy cocktail ring with a blue stone from Camille.
Christmas PJs and gifts: smart watches, slippers, shoes, hat, computer glasses, and
comfy lounging hoodie.
At 6:30 on Christmas morning, I heard Norah and Camille run downstairs to check their stocking, then they came up to wake Charlotte and that was the end of sleep that morning. Jill and Ben got up and sat at the top of the stairs listening for a bit and when they went downstairs I heard Camille questioning why Santa used their wrapping paper and maybe Ben and Jill were really Santa? Ben handled it well, asking Camille if Santa really had time to wrap all of those gifts - maybe he needed some help from Mom & Dad - and that it might just all be part of the magic of Christmas. She gave up on the topic.
We unwrapped the rest of the gifts and then had a nice breakfast of German Pancakes, bacon and fruit. They are lucky kids and so fortunate to have the loving and caring parents that they do but I sometimes feel like it would be nice to cut back a bit. Christmas was very decadent.
We spent the afternoon playing with gifts, prepping for dinner, doing a puzzle, watching football, and enjoying the time together. Dinner was excellent - beef tenderloin, baked potato, sautéed Brussels sprouts, dilled carrots, and the cranberry cake with hot butter sauce for dessert. By then, I was ready to head back home to my quiet little apartment. It was a nice Christmas and I’m happy that it is over.
Yesterday, I got up and took down my Christmas decorations and rearranged my living room.
