Ross continually perfects is grilling skills and has now added grilling a whole chicken to his list of accomplishments. He got a chicken grilling "stand" for Christmas and use it a few weeks ago. He basically stuffed the chicken with a can of sprite and put it on his stand then let it grill for about three hours. It turned out very good - the girls even liked it! It was fairly easy and cheap, so I'm sure we will be making it this way again in the future.
One Christmas present Ross gave me was a $20 gift certificate to a local bakery, Supreme Bakery, and it was one of the best gifts I received! Here's the back story to it.......
In December I was at this bakery picking up some Kringles and tea cakes I'd ordered through PTA for our teachers. I noticed they had a cheese danish in their bakery case and it sounded so good, so I decided to buy one. I think the total came to $2.74 so I got out my credit card to pay for it. They said they don't take credit cards unless the total is over $7. I asked if they took a debit card because I know sometime debit cards have different fees than credit cards so hoped that would work. No, they don't take debit cards unless the total is over $7. So I asked if they would take a check, thinking certainly a check would work - no fees associated with it. Again they said no, we don't take a check unless it's over $7. My only option for buying that one cheese danish that day was with cash and I had no cash on me! I usually have a few dollars cash, but not that day. I was so bummed because I really wantd that cheese danish! They suggested that I add more to my order to get it over $7, but I didn't want to do that, so I left really craving a cheese danish! I went to Panera thinking maybe they would have something, but no such luck. I settled for a cup of donut holes from Krispy Kreme. They were good, but definitely not the cheese danish I really wanted.
I told Ross this story and didn't think anything of it, but he remembered and surprised me with a $20 gift certificate to Supreme Bakery! Now I can get $20 worth of cheese danishes and not have to worry about having cash on me to do so! Supreme Bakery is a little old school and I actually received a paper gift certificate, not a plastic gift card like the majority of places give today. Ross asked to make sure that I could keep using it until the $20 was gone and that I didn't have to use all of the $20 it in one sitting.
I went into Supreme Bakery last week to get my cheese danish and I am happy to report that there were no issues using my $20 gift certificate for a $2.74 item and I still have $17.26 left on it to use! They just write down all of my purchases on the back of the certificate and keep a tally of how much I have left. The cheese danish was so good! I can't wait to go back and get another!
I saw a post on Facebook for a fun craft where you decorate plastic cups and then put them in the oven for a few seconds to melt them down into ornaments. I was a little skeptical of it and didn't know if it would really work until a friend told me she did it and it worked!
I was happy to see that one morning our elves left us markers and cups to try this craft, so we tried it! It did work, there's just a learning curve to it. I felt so bad because the first round we melted did not turn out at all and the girls spent so much time decorating their cups! I realized after a few more trials that I was placing the cups wrong side up for the melting. Once I figured that out, the cups melted perfectly! It does not take long at all, either! You simply decorate your cup however you want, place them on a cookie sheet, put them in the oven on broil for about 10 SECONDS, and you're left with flattened, round circles! If you stand the cups up the wrong way you will definitely not have flattened, round circles, but some really wonky shaped melted cups instead! This is a fun craft that I'll be sure to do again.
Each year at Christmas after I started driving (so yeah, this goes back a few years) Santa would leave me a bottle of windshield washer fluid with my stocking. My sister would always have a bottle, too. My dad would put this out for us and I remember laughing at it because what teenager really wants a bottle of windshield washer fluid?!
A few years back when I started hosting people at my house on Christmas Eve I decided to carry the windsheidl washer fluid tradition on! So each year whoever stays at our house on Christmas Eve wakes up to find a bottle of windshield washer fluid with their stocking on Christmas morning!
Christmas Day was a fun day! It didn't start too early, maybe about 7am, but we did make the girls sit at the top of the stairs for a bit before coming downstairs to see what Santa left them! I always had to wait down the hall for my mom to get everything ready when I was a kid on Christmas morning, so of course my kids have to do the same! I see it as a right of passage!
Both girls were really excited to look at their stockings and then to open gifts. We were done with our gifts by about 9:30am and then had a brunch around 11:30am. We just hung out that afternoon and played out in the snow a bit as it has snowed some a few days before. My parents came over to have dinner with us that night. Overall, it was a great Christmas!
We had a really nice Christmas season this year! Ross' parents came to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with us. We went out to eat for lunch on Christmas Eve Day and then just hung out around the house. The Chief's game was on that afternoon so some of us watched that. We played a few rounds of Uno Attack and then it was time for dinner. We had chili and a veggie tray for dinner.
Our Christmas Eve tradition is to read the Christmas story by candlelight and then sing Silent Night. We've been doing this for a long time and I really enjoy it. It's just a nice time. Since the girls have learned to play the piano we also sing a few songs around the piano while they play for us. We opened a few presents and then put our cookies and milk out for Santa, as well as reindeer food on the deck for the reindeer! It was a very nice Christmas Eve!
