breakfast has been served and the gifts have been opened to squeals of delight. as expected, the new cell phone (actually quite inexpensive and a virgin mobile pay as you go phone) outshone everything for miss thang, and froggy's treasure is the (also very inexpensive) portable cd player. taz was very excited about season 8 of stargate and is watching that even now. froggy made her gifts: stuffed strawberry and carrot fridge magnets. the girls are getting the table and dishes cleaned up and ready to go so we can start cooking. taz is folding socks while he watches his show.
as soon as miss thang gets done in the kitchen, saxy will start the stuffing. this is probably the quietest lull in our cooking for the day. after this it's the birds, corn, green beans, dinner rolls and crescents, mashed potatoes . . . probably the easiest thing on the menu is the salad which was bought remade in one of those bag o' salad bags. oh, and the olives and the cranberry sauce which only require that we open the cans. this year we're also going to add sweet potato pie to the menu and see how well that goes over, and it's premade as well. next year i may look for a recipe if the kids like it.
this is also where i start losing my mind. every year, it seems like i'm always trying to figure out what i need to do next. this year, i'm already running late before i start! saxy's waiting for miss thang to get out of the kitchen so he can make the stuffing. i'm waiting for saxy to make the stuffing so i can start the birds.
so, i guess linnorm had it right when he said he'd be here in time for dinner. at this rate, he may even have to wait for dinner -- which works. it allows him to hand out his presents and for all the excitement over is presence to abate a bit before we actually eat.
i definitely miss the presence of my kitten-girl, but we're managing. maybe next year they won't be in hawaii and the cost of visiting us won't be so exorbitant.and i do get to see her in february, taking all her holiday gifts with me when i go. and her cat. (yep, the plan right now is for hitomi to go back to her mama when i fly out for the birth of my grandbaby.) but i still wish she and her man could be here for the holiday. saxy doesn't particularly enjoy a full house, but i do. even the arguments are something to be appreciated in the face of the children moving out.
and now it's time for me to scoot and get started on my part of dinner. and take my meds so the stress doesn't kill me. ;)
merry christmas!
word of the moment: picaresque
belonging to or characteristic of a type of prose fiction that features the adventures of a roguish hero and usually has a simple plot divided into separate episodes; relating to or characteristic of rogues or scoundrels; picaresque fiction - prose fiction featuring the adventures of a roguish hero