Wednesday, December 30, 2015

First Days of Christmas

We didn't attend 2nd Christmas Eve service because Lamb 2 and 3 were grouchy and tired. The Lambs had a fit that they were missing church! After putting them to bed I sat by the fire with a cup of tea and read a book until Ram came home.

On Christmas Day we did attend church. Then we came home and had crepes and lingonberries for lunch. The Lambs received remote control cars. Ram's parents came late in the afternoon. We opened a couple of presents and then we ate Christmas dinner. Then we finished opening presents. Then we had pie. I hurried to send everyone upstairs so I could watch Call the Midwife. It was a delightful holiday special remembering barren women.

On Saturday the Lambs received stylus with Star Wars characters on them in their stocking to go with their new Boogie Boards they got from Grandpa and Grandma. Ram and his dad took the Lambs to the Star Wars movie. Ram's mom and I went shopping. We both got a couple of great After Christmas deals. We also went to Macys to get ties for the Lambs to go to Stonesetters in January. We were disappointed that the coupon that I had expired at 2pm and we were there at 3pm. I never would have gone close to the mall the day after Christmas if Ram's mom hadn't wanted to. It ended up being busy, but not terrible. We just took our time driving between stores. After the movie we all went to a BBQ restaurant.

Ram's parents joined us for church on Sunday. We came home and ate leftovers. We spent Sunday around the house. The stocking treat today was lemon coconut water.

Monday I went to the grocery store and thought I overspent my monthly budget but I came in $0.83 under budget. Plus I have a mail in rebate and I will get $3 more. I am quite proud of serving Paleo meals and buying stocking treats and still staying under budget. That afternoon Ram's mom had some shopping to do at the health food store (to take home with her) and I had a coupon. It was good to go see what they had and decide it is not worth a membership for us. I had planned on cooking supper, but everyone was a little stir crazy with the cold weather so we decided to get out and go to Sushi Boats. Lamb 2 "won" by eating 14 sushi plates.

Tuesday's stocking treat was Butterfingers that were on Christmas clearance. Ram's parents joined us to go to the Basque museum. We had been there once when we first moved here and spent a little more time there this time. Since we were downtown Boise we decided to go out to eat again to a fish restaurant. The Lambs loved their fish and chips. Then we came home and I made deviled eggs for a snack. For supper Ram and I made Broccoli Beef. It was so good we will definitely make that recipe again! Ram's parents called it an early evening because they are flying to a family wedding today. This was Ram and Ewe's 14th wedding anniversary, but we didn't do anything special.

I was surprised how quickly the few days with Ram's parents went. We hadn't planned on eating out so much, but that is what happened. We have lots of food and desserts leftover. I will try to freeze some and we will eat the rest this week. It is nice to not have to cook for a few more days of vacation.

This morning's stocking treat was $5 each with a note that we would go to the Lego store today. We had never been there before. I made clear that we were going to window shop and to possibly buy individual pieces by the cup. There wasn't a lot of selection left in the individual pieces so after a long time looking Lamb 1 asked if he could buy just one piece. The salesman asked what piece he was interested in and said if that was all he wanted, he could have it for free. We decided to come back in a couple of weeks and see if they had a better selection when it wasn't right after Christmas. Lamb 2 had a fit that he wasn't allowed to spend his own money. It ended up being a good lesson for all of the Lambs that  it is possible to window shop but not buy anything.

We are all fighting colds and sore throats here. No one is officially sick but everyone isn't feeling completely normal. I hope to catch up on laundry and paperwork at the end of the year. I also hope to send out Christmas cards and plan for school. On Saturday I am going to a scrapbook day with a friend, so I need to get organized for that. Ram is back to work visiting shut-ins this afternoon and tomorrow and writing a sermon for Sunday. The Lambs are enjoying their last few days of vacation before we are back to school and regular activities on Monday.

1 comment:

Jody said...

Happy anniversary!

My 2nd boy has a particularly difficult time when given money. . . should he save it? buy something with it? what to buy with it? All the possibilities consume him, and he obsesses over it, changing his mind about it (and telling us about it) what seems like 20 times a day . .. . though it's probably really only 15 times :)