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Monday night I stayed up far too late making cinnamon apple chips for the Christmas Eve festivities at the in-laws. They're easy to make - just slice the apples thinly, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, and bake til crispy - but since they bake two hours per batch and I made two batches, by the time the last ones were done I could barely keep my eyes open. I'm not sure why I felt the need to do something so time-consuming when it would have been so much easier to just swing by the store on the way down and grab some chips and salsa, but well, it was an excuse to bake. Sort of. And besides, they ended up being a big hit and now I'm all inspired to make more to nibble over the next week or so as long as we're still home and not on the road. Plus I got to use my finger-eating slicer/grater contraption, although I very wisely removed the slicer attachment before putting it in the dishwasher so as to avoid any more baking related casualties at later dates. We left the house at 9am on Tuesday morning in order to get to my Almost Twin's house so we could meet their new kitten, and then from there continued on to my in-laws' house, where we arrived just in time to decorate sugar cookies with Richard's sister. This year Richard's mom finally broke down and provided black frosting. So instead of beach blanket bimbo bunnies and vampire reindeer, we had opera singers and a Cthulu, and a lot of gnomes. There was a very good reason for the gnomes, of course, but you have to wait til tomorrow to hear all about that. Occasionally Richard's dad would walk by, look at the cookies, and wonder aloud why it was that he couldn't have a normal family with normal cookies decorated like Santas and snowmen and Christmas trees. But then, he's the one who last year provided the chocolate chips for the beach blanket bimbo bunnies, so he can't really complain too much. We all sat around in the living room and opened presents and talked and laughed and ate sandwiches and pizza and cookies and veggies and shrimp and apple chips until we were stuffed and could only sip coffee instead. And then we had fun playing with each other's toys, especially the battle robots given to the significant other of my Almost Twin, who also received the coolest possible slippers ever made for a guy because they were shaped like cows. We went to the Christmas Eve service, but it felt a little odd because this wasn't our church, and we didn't really know anyone. I'm pretty flexible when it comes to traditions and I'm certainly the last person to need some form of religious service as a general rule, but somehow, when it's a Christmas eve service, I feel a little homesick when it's not at our familiar little church. Still, the music was lovely and we all held lit candles and sung "Silent Night" so it was appropriate. And then Richard and I drove home, barely able to keep our eyes open, and we staggered upstairs and collapsed in our beds and were very, very glad that at least the cats weren't going to wake us up before the sun rose the next morning demanding to be allowed to open their presents. It's been a quiet sort of holiday this year. Last year both sisters and their husbands and children were at my parents' for Christmas and the house was crammed with noise and activity and it was almost too much. This year it was just Richard and I there to open presents under the tree with my mom and dad. And no matter how much I love the rest of my family, it was nice to have things so quiet. We were so exhausted from getting home so late the night before that it was nice to not have to feel rushed to get over there at the crack of dawn so we could eat breakfast before small children expired from the sheer excitement of having to wait one more minute to open their presents. We ate dinner by candlelight, and afterward my mom ran around and lit pretty much every candle she owns, all over the house, so that every room was filled with tiny pools of flickering light. And now here we are, back at our own house, where I cannot light candles, but where our tree sparkles quietly downstairs, and where there are cats curled warm and sleepy on the bed, not caring what day it is, but more than happy to share in the peace anyway.
Tis the season for Holidailies!
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