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.  :)