Christmas Day Houston 2014

Closing scene from A Christmas Story

Well, we survived our first Christmas in Houston.  More imperfect perfection.

 

This was the first year in 18 years that we did not have to play "Santa".  I remember having to set an alarm for the middle of the night so Santa would come in the middle of the night.  This year we went to bed and didn't have to worry about tip-toeing around so as to not wake sleeping children.  In fact, we slept in until 9 a.m. and still waited for the kids to roll out of bed.  Teenagers!  Corbin was the first up - I think he was still a little excited for presents this year.  We watched A Christmas Story this morning while waiting for the girls to wake up.  I, of course, took a picture of the closing scene, because I'm a dork and that's how I roll.  It's a great scene with the snow falling and the tree in the window.  No snow falling here.  I hear Minnesota had a brown Christmas for the first time in 28 years.  I don't know if that's a true fact but I think Mom she said she heard it on the news.

 

The day started out with stockings - we had stuffed the stockings for our kids, and then Kaye had brought her stockings from home and had filled them with gifts for the kids.  Chad's stocking is from when he was a little kid that she saved all these years.  It says Chad on one side and "Bunky" on the other.  Bunky was his nickname when he was little.

Jumping up to receive her treat

Of course our furry family member, Cali, has a stocking.  She got a Christmas bone in her stocking shaped like a candy cane. 




Reindeer antlers made of candy

We all enjoyed opening up our stocking stuffers.  I was so worried that the kids were going to be disappointed, but it really did help that Kaye brought down her stockings so they each had two stockings to open. 

White Elephant Gift

We started a tradition several years ago with Chad's mom and stepdad that we would stop exchanging regular gifts and go to silly, white elephant gifts.  It has been fun to try to top each other on finding the most outrageous gifts that would get the most laugh.  This year Chad got a Chia Uncle Si.  I think they won the prize this year for the best white elephant laugh. 



Cheers!

I was really proud of Courtney this year.  Since she has a job, she spent her own money and bought her own Christmas gifts for each member of the family.  Grandma and Grandpa are coffee drinkers and we don't drink coffee here.  She was thoughtful and bought them each a coffee cup to keep here for when they visit.

 

A different kind of Christmas Glitter

Here is my picture perfect shot for this Christmas.  The photo of Carly with the sparkler is not photoshopped.

Courtney bought Corbin some fireworks for Christmas.  They have brought back the fireworks stands here in Texas to sell them for (I assume) New Year's Eve celebration.  Corbin couldn't wait but it was a little on the breezy side tonight, so we ended up cracking out the sparklers.  Each kid lit a sparkler in the backyard and waved them around.  On Christmas.  Because in Texas, you can do that.  :)

Corbin used his head lamp that he got from Grandma and Grandpa to see in the dark. 

 /

Overall, we had a very low-key, but really nice Christmas.  I made Christmas dinner and I didn't screw anything up.  Nothing burnt and I managed to get all of the food on the table hot, which always seems to be a tricky feat for me to get everything done at the same time and to serve the food while it's hot.  I guess everything worked out well in that regard this year.  :)

Imperfect? Yes. Courtney was not feeling well.  Carly disappeared twice to meet with her boyfriend; we seem to need to pull them apart with the jaws of life.  As I am typing this, I am having an allergic reaction to something and my eye is itching and swollen shut.

 

Perfect?  Yes.  Chad and I were together with our kids, and none of the other details really matter.  After dinner Chad and I rented our favorite classic, "The Apartment", starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine.  It's an old black and white movie made in 1960 but it takes place at Christmastime and it is a story about love where they end up living happily ever after.  I got to hold his hand and snuggle next to the fireplace while watching the movie, and well, it just doesn't get any better than that. ♥

Our Non-Perfect/Perfect Christmas Eve in Houston

I read a lot of Facebook/social media and I often think that people make their statuses out to be like they live perfect lives.  People talk about how wonderful their lives are and show perfect holiday pictures, because they all want the world to believe that they live these perfect, happy, storybook lives.

 

Well, that's not my life.  Sure, I don't like bad pictures of me posted on facebook but honestly things have been sort of sucky for me lately.  This post is going to be a documentary of our ordinary, non-perfect/un-Facebook worthy day.

 

I started the day by wrapping the kids' Christmas presents.  Having three children has always been expensive at Christmastime, but right now we are living on Chad's income alone since I am unemployed. I want the kids to have a good Christmas, but we have had to seriously scale back this year.  A LOT.  I think I have had about twenty "pep talks" with them to prepare them for gift opening tomorrow: Mom and Dad couldn't afford much this year; don't expect much; you'll probably be disappointed; remember Christmas is not about presents, etc. 

 

I wrapped what little gifts we could afford and put them under the tree.  Corbin walked by and commented that there must be more coming because there wasn't much under the tree.  DOH!  Apparently he didn't grasp the concept of my pep talks.

 

Chad and Courtney ran some errands and my mother-in-law Kaye and I had a baking extravaganza.

 

 

Grandpa Mike fell asleep through the baking extravaganza

There are a few holiday treats that Chad has grown up with and Kaye sent the recipes down ahead of time and requested that I not bake treats until she got here.  We started with making Christmas bark - a yummy concoction of saltine crackers, brown sugar/butter, and melted chocolate chips and pecans.  You layer it all together and then throw it in the fridge for an hour.  After that, you break it into bite-sized pieces.  YUM.

I decided to make white chocolate covered peppermint oreo cookies. 

White chocolate covered candy cane oreo cookies

I bought white chocolate chips and started melting them on the stovetop.  The white chocolate chips started to burn/turn brown.  I thought...what the heck am I doing wrong?  Kaye suggested that I try melting them in the microwave.  So, we tried putting them in the microwave.  They turned even more brown.  Couldn't figure out what the heck we were doing wrong!!!  We ended up with a disgusting amalgation that I thought looked like dog barf.

This is what happens when you don't melt white chocolate chips correctly.  Christmas Barf.

It turns out that I did not read the melting directions on the package.  In order to melt the white chocolate chips into smooth, creamy dipping chocolate you have to add one tablespoon of vegetable oil.  Who knew?!?!?  In any event, I had saved enough white chocolate chips to make another batch - this time, it melted perfectly and I was able to make white chocolate covered peppermint/candy cane oreo cookies.  Kaye didn't want to throw away the Christmas Barf concoction because, as disgusting as it looks, it actually tastes really good.  We put it in the fridge and decided to make Christmas Barf fudge.  I'll let you know how it turns out in the morning.  See, life in our house is not Facebook perfect.

Carly is breaking apart the Christmas Bark into pieces

We had a mid-day snack of summer sausage/cheese and crackers.  The girls were helpful in putting it all together while we were busy in the kitchen.

Courtney and Carly making a meat and cheese platter

Two favorite holiday treats that Kaye makes every year is cherry bars and orange cookies.  The orange cookies are Chad's favorite Christmas cookie.

Kaye is baking orange cookies

Carly decided that she needed to nap but Courtney stayed up to help frost the orange cookies.  I took this candid shot of Courtney and Kaye finishing up frosting the orange cookies.

Finishing up the orange cookies

We also baked traditional sugar cookies.  We decided to take a break before frosting and decorating the sugar cookies.

Lighted garland on the railing upstairs

Another random photo of our lighted garland

Our Christmas Tree 2014

The family then casually relaxed and watched "Christmas Vacation".  Courtney and Carly actually sat by each other and played nice.  Maybe the holiday bug bit them and they were feeling friendly.  Or, maybe they knew Santa was watching.  Who knows.

Selfies.  Always selfies.

We had a non-traditional Christmas Eve dinner of Papa Murphy's pizza.  Chad and Corbin had the honors of making the pizza this year.

Corbin waving and Chad preparing the pizza for the oven.

Clark Griswald on the TV.

After we had our pizza, we finished frosting the sugar cookies.

We cleaned up the table and decided to play a little Pictionary.  Grandpa Mike hasn't played Pictionary before and the first word he had to draw was "Obstetrician".   Needless to say, we let him re-draw from the card deck to choose a different word.  The kids had no idea was an Obstetrician is.  Good thing.  ;)

Grandpa Mike at the drawing board

Corbin at the drawing board.  His word was "terrier".

Carly always guesses the right words.  She's the best guesser of the family!

Chad and Corbin drawing an "all play" word

Grandpa Mike and Corbin laughing at the word they have to draw

We played two games of Pictionary total.  Another perfect example of our not-perfect life: The first game was great; lots of fun, people laughing and having a good time.  Game 2 had fighting, people wanting to quit, and finally Chad called it off before the game was even over because he had "had it" - he'd reached maximum capacity of bickering, pouting, and after Courtney knocked over the deck of cards and spilled them all over the floor, he was done.

Random tree ornament photo...just because.

Chad trying to get Cali to "stay" in front of the tree for a picture.  Cali ended up shaking, laying down, and turning in a few circles before finally getting her settled by the tree for a photo.

Cali Christmas Eve 2014

So there's our not-perfect/perfect Christmas Eve in Houston.  I did really well until my mom called me.  See, traditionally we spend Christmas Eve with my family at my mom's house.  It's also filled full of chaos and laughter.  It didn't feel like Christmas Eve today because I wasn't in Minnesota at my mom's house.  She called and I was fine, but then my stepdad got on the phone and wished me Merry Christmas and it was all over for me...I bawled like a baby.  I sat in my closet and cried because I was sad that I couldn't be there.  I pulled it together and finished the rest of the day.

Right now A Christmas Story is on the TV and we're getting ready for bed.  Last minute wrapping is going on upstairs and Chad and I are ready to hit the hay.  Tomorrow will be our first Christmas in Houston and we will have been here for almost a year.

Merry Christmas Eve from the Nelsons in Houston.  :)

Family Updates :)

Well, Carly officially passed her driver's exam last Friday.  She had to wait until Tuesday to actually be able to drive solo - here in Texas, the place where you take driver's ed now offers driving assessments like the DMV/DPS offers.  You take the test with the driving school, and if you pass you bring certified papers to the DPS and they take your photo and issue you a license.  Since she took her exam on Friday evening after 4 p.m., she had to wait until the DPS opened again on Monday.  Further, here in Texas they have a rule that you must submit a VOE - a Verification of Enrollment and Attendance.  Apparently they won't issue you a driver's license when you're 16 if you're not enrolled in school. (Interesting, eh?)  So, Carly had to "order" a VOE form from her school (she had to do this when she got her permit, too) - which takes 24 hours for the school to generate.  So, poor Carly had to wait four extra days to actually drive after she passed her driver's exam.  Since Chad drives a company vehicle, she was given Chad's 2007 VUE (much to the chagrin of Courtney, who feels entitled to that car since she is the oldest child).  She has now cleaned out the car, brought it to a carwash and vacuumed the entire inside, and gotten car air fresheners.  I can remember the freedom of being 16 and having my own car.  She is on cloud 9!

Courtney finished her first semester of college - her last final of the first semester was this week.  She has six weeks off for the holidays and she is super pumped to have a break!  A change for Courtney is that she originally leased student housing (a very small apartment shared with one roommate on campus) - however, she got a job in Katy coaching at her cheer gym, which is an hour away from school.  Coupled with the fact that she didn't get along with her roommate, she never spent any time at her campus apartment.  I think in the month of November she spent a total of two nights there - if that.  We decided to move her back home with us and try to sublease her apartment.  She misses Minnesota very much - especially all of her friends.  However, she has made some new friends here in Texas.  They even came to watch her cheer at her last cheer competition!  Nice!

Corbin is still adjusting to homeschool/online private school.  He needs the structure of a school day but cannot handle the social stress of his disability with autism and ADHD - I am hoping that things get better for him as I am at a loss on how to handle getting him to WANT to do his schoolwork.

Chad has been busy with his work making many sales calls and he's even driven from Houston to Dallas back and forth in one day - that's a 4 hour drive each way - 8 hours total in the car for one sales call.  Those days can be exhausting for him!!!  He is sooooo good at what he does and I am really, really proud of him.  He's very humble about his job, saying he has a lot to learn but is enjoying the new experience.  It's wonderful for me as a wife to see him flourish - he really has taken to this like a duck takes to water!

As for me - well, I'm hanging in there!  Had some rough things happen to me recently but overall I am looking forward to starting fresh for the new year.  :)

Merry Christmas!

Random thoughts at 2 a.m.

I can't believe how much things change in a year.

We're fast approaching December 16 and that marks the official date that Chad was offered his job a year ago.

We moved across the country and so much has happened!

I've taken a seasonal retail job to help with the holiday bills.  I haven't worked retail since working as a photographer at Proex and that was about 12 years ago.  Those were the days when we shot studio portraits in film.  The days where everyone ordered double prints.  The days where we offered same day or next day prints - the next day prints needed to be done before the store opened and some days we were there until 2 a.m. printing photos.  I remember when we converted to digital cameras in the studio - we were no longer allowed to use bubbles in the studio to protect the digital equipment and some of the photographers had a really hard time adjusting to not using bubbles to get the kids to smile.  For me, personally, I had never quite mastered the art of bubbles in the studio.  You had to have the trigger cord in one hand and the bubble wand in the other and I could never blow bubbles left handed.  There were some photographers who were really good at it - they would use a puppet and the puppet would "eat" the bubbles - how they managed to do this without a third hand, I'll never know.  (I could do a fantastic game of peek-a-boo, though!)  While I don't miss the days of being on my feet for long periods of time and bustling about running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I do miss the portrait studio sometimes.  It seems like portrait studios are a thing of the past.  I often wonder how this new generation is handling not having photos printed?  Everything is digital now.  I hope parents are making a lot of shutterfly books!

Corbin has officially withdrawn from public school and has enrolled in an online private school.  I have become his "personal learning coach."  Right now it is necessary to keep him focused and on track.  It's been a difficult transition for him and he doesn't like doing the assignments.  I think he thought that it would mean less homework or testing and that isn't the case.  There are still assignments to be completed and submitted to the teachers.  As with everything else, the transition is difficult but we will get through it.

I posted on Facebook that we went shopping for our Christmas tree in shorts and sandals.  It was a very unique experience.  The girls have been complaining that they miss the snow for the holiday season.  It's not quite the same having all the lights on the houses with no snow on the ground.  Different.  Not less, not more, but different. I don't miss driving in the snow or having to shovel it.  I don't think I'll ever say, "Hey!  I sure could use a turn at shoveling the driveway right about now!"

We just told our management company that we are going to renew our lease for another 12 months.  Another 12 months on Calico Glen Lane!  We love this house that we are renting.  Who knows what life will bring us in 2015 but we're here to stay for another year.

Carly is scheduled to take her driving test this Friday.  That means we will have two teenage drivers on our car insurance policy.  Sympathy cards can be mailed to 17907 Calico Glen Lane, Houston, Texas 77084.  ;)

Mom visited us over Thanksgiving and it was so nice to just hug her.  We enjoyed many games of Pictionary (Corbin loved to play it and since he was being social, we indulged him.) - I think by the end of her stay she was all Pictionaried out but it was so great to see her.  I am looking forward to having her come back in March.

I'm blogging at 2 a.m. because I can't turn my brain off...hoping this bout of insomnia goes away soon.  Can't sleep when there's too many things rattling around in my brain.  Who...what...where...when...why.....I haven't discovered any secrets of the universe in all my deep thinking but by golly my brain sure is trying.  Decided to do a brain dump to help ease the mind so this is what you get...random thoughts.  Now, back to your regularly-scheduled programming...