. . .and to All a Good Night

Whew!  It's been a heck of a month.

A week.

And a day.

Every Christmas card written, addressed stamped and mailed.
Every cookie baked, delivered and/or eaten.
Every present ordered, delivered, wrapped, opened, loved and appreciated.
Christmas breakfast, lunch and dinner finished.  [If I didn't gain weight today, I never will.]
We survived the mall.
And no bills come January. [Bonus!]

Now?

Skippy needs a nap. :D

Despite the health set backs, I am a very fortunate woman to be surrounded by such a loving [and very helpful] family, not to mention incredibly supportive friends. I thank you all.

I honestly cannot believe how smooth everything has gone and how successful it all turned out. Seriously.  There has never been a Christmas season where every.single.thing. has gone as planned.  No hiccups, no glitches, no tears [I'll admit a few were shed today over gifts given, but. . .that isn't quite what I meant] and now we are all relaxing, ready to sleep off our next week of vacation. heehee [We won't mention the 5 hour nap I took today, will we?  I got a head start. What can I say?]

Some of my favorite things today:

Squirrel and I made an overnight casserole for breakfast this morning.  I have never made one and was a little off kilter because we were low on milk late last night, but. . .OMG! This thing was amazing.  I had two helpings [note: not low in sodium]. It contains eggs, milk, a whole french baguette loaf, crumbled sausage, golden delicious apples, sugar, cinnamon and cheddar cheese.  Mix it all up and let it sit overnight. Pop in the oven, in the morning, while you open presents and viola!  The smell is incredible and it tastes even better.  The leftovers have midnight snack written all over them.

We gave Pooldad a smoker for Christmas on the advice of Bizzy.  Best $XX.xx [<----yes, under $100. Waay under] I have ever spent on a gift in my life. [If you want to know the real price email me and I will tell you - but he reads my blog. :)]  My husband is a great cook on the regular grill and after drooling for months over all the things Bizzy puts up on her smoker and blogs about I decided it would be the perfect gift for him.  Me thinks I hit a home run.
Ta - da!

Like a [big] kid on Christmas morning.

Here he is smoking a pork butt over hickory chips.  [I am such a great wife I even gifted him with sunshiney, 50 degree weather today - heehee]  The meat is melt in your mouth delicious.  He didn't put any rub or spice on it because the hickory chips give it the most amazing flavor.  We ate it as pulled pork sandwiches with bbq sauce for the girls, coleslaw, potato salad, macaroni salad, toss salad [yes, we all have our favorites - hence the 4 types] devilled eggs and baked beans.  This is Christmas dinner "Southern Style".  Wow.  This will also constitute the second round of midnight snacks for us.

Like I said, if I don't gain weight from this one day I will be shocked.  And I don't mean the sodium thing-y either. Nom, nom, nom.

The only things I really wanted for Christmas were a replacement for my wedding band, new batteries for my two favorite watches and a stronger chain for my locket and cross. [I am an easy date, aren't?]
Looky:
This is the very first Mickey watch Pooldad ever gave me.  It even plays the "Mouseketeer" theme.  It has been languishing for a while with no battery.  He also had my dress watched repaired but I have to have links taken out of it to wear it. In addition, here is my new wedding band. Yippee!  It needs to be sized down too [from a 5 to a 4.5] but I am so happy to have it because I was feeling neekid without it.

 And here is one of my pretty chains with my cross. [See?  I am not a complete heathen. :wink:]

The girls were in on the presents too:
Wallene lettered this year and her "big" present was a letterman jacket.  We couldn't be more proud of her [she worked hard for it.]  We will have it embroidered with her real nickname and have the letter sewn on this week:

This is Squirrel taking a picture, in the kitchen, with her new waterproof camera.  She filled the sink with water and submerged it before snapping the pic'.  Notice the underside of the faucet.  Pretty neat.

The pups just waiting to polish off their Christmas treats from their Grandmother.

Random present opening. :D

All and all a pretty fabulous holiday season.  I honestly couldn't ask for more.

Now, if you'll excuse me I have a little more noshing to do before I begin my hibernation.

Have a wonderful week Tadpoles.  I'll see ya' on one flipside or another. Hugs!