Let's see, Christmas Eve dinner was here at our house. We had purchased a prime rib (standing rib roast) a few days before and had been dry aging it in our fridge. Christmas Eve morning we put it on the smoker. I took the girls to the Children's service at church. They do a super cute service for the kids at 10:30am. They give out costumes to the kids attending, they have angel costumes, wise men costumes and shepherds. Courtney dressed up as an angel, as did her friend Hailey, we sat with her and her family. When it's time for the angels to come in the story, all the angels go to the front of the sanctuary, and when it's time for the shepherds and the wise men, those kids join in too. There were about 100 kids at the front of the church by then end. It was so cute. We sing a few Christmas carols and have a short service and then it's over. 30 minutes total, which is great for all the young kids!
From there it was a few errands (mostly delivering gifts) and then home. Once we were home and settled, I figured it was time to start preparing for that night's dinner. I got out all of the stuff to make cheesy zucchini. Hubby came over to help. He decided to slice the zucchini for me. He got out his new Pampered Chef simple slicer and began to slice. About 2 inches into the first zucchini he slipped and cut the pad of his thumb instead. Gave himself a pretty good slice. He immediately rinsed it off and once he did that, he applied pressure. An hour later, it was still bleeding pretty good. So, off to urgent care he went, by himself, in his car, which is a stick shift.
So, now Hubby is at Urgent Care and I am home with the girls, a standing rib roast on the smoker and the rest of dinner to prepare. Hubby finally decided that it probably would not be a good idea for him to try and drive himself home, so he asked me to call my mom or Zak and ask them to come drive him home. So, they left their house earlier than planned and dropped Zak off with Hubby to bring him home when he was done. Hubby ended up with 8 stitches. We figured out later that he should have probably had 9, so a steri-stip was added.
It ended up working out just right. Hubby and Zak arrived home just as I pulled the roast and other food out of the oven! Zak was able to assist with cutting slices of the prime rib for everyone and we all sat down and had a fabulous Christmas Eve dinner together.
After our fabulous dinner, we went caroling. Of course, only to one house, but Courtney had been dying to go caroling, so this appeased her desire. We went to John and Lisa's house across the street. They were having a large Christmas Eve party which we then invaded on as well (they had a heads up earlier that week that we would be caroling). We were there for the Christmas trivia game. We divided into 4 teams (Lisa divided us, so it was fair) and had to answer about 25 Christmas related questions. Good times.
We finally got the girls in bed and asleep, after cookies and milk were put out for Santa. I think we actually didn't get woken up until about 7am the next morning, not too bad! The girls had a ball opening all their gifts the next morning. Kasey had asked Santa for candy canes and so he had brought her a big box of them. Courtney asked her for several things including a large ball and some jewelry. Santa left those for her as well! She was very excited.
After the we all opened the gifts and the girls played a bit, they were ready to head out. So, as usual we headed to the zoo. We fed the giraffes, and saw a few other animals. I think we spent about an hour there. Then we headed to Nana's and Papa's house.
There we opened gifts, snacked and then had dinner. It was a great time. I think we finally headed for home about 8pm. It was a wonderful two days.
The next day was my birthday, and we had plans to spend the night in Denver, just Hubby and I. Our babysitter arrived about noon and we headed out. Our first stop was Ikea to get a new kitchen table. So, we wondered around for a few hours, enjoying the sites inside Ikea, and picking out our new table.
After we got our new table in the car, we headed to Park Meadows mall and I got myself a new pair of jeans that were pricy, but hey, it was my birthday! From there we checked into the Ritz Carlton. Yes, you read that right, we stayed at the Ritz Carlton. Of course, we used Marriott points so we didn't have to pay for anything. It was so nice, I told Hubby he was spoiling me and I am going to never want to stay in any other hotel.
We used their free car service to go to dinner at a nearby delicious sushi restaurant. And then they came and picked us up when we were done! Once we got back to the hotel, we had a nightcap in their bar before heading for bed.
The next morning we stopped at a breakfast place nearby. Apparently Guy Ferri from Diners, Drive-in's and Dives filmed an episode there. He apparently loved their green chili. I had some sort of dish that also had the chili on it, and it was very tasty. From there it was back home and back to reality.
When we opened out boxes to build our tables, we found the tabletop was cracked. So, the next day I drove back to Ikea to swap it out for a new one. It's a very long story, but we finally have a whole table, put together will all the pieces. Finally, as of about 2 days ago.
Anyway, we also had our typical New Year's party here. This year we invited more people and we had more people actually RSVP to come! So, we had 40-50 people here on New Year's. The next morning our house was trashed beyond belief, so we spent days cleaning up.
We had our first parent/teacher conference with Courtney's teacher. They say she is doing great! No complaints.
Life is back to normal; school, work, etc. Then 2 days ago, a slight change. Our family expanded by 1 hedgehog. Yes, we now have a pet hedgehog! I have wanted one for years. I have researched them, and was really hoping someday it would just work out right. Wouldn't you know on Thursday this past week, it worked out that we rescued a hedgehog. I would have never have bought one, I was waiting to rescue one and I did! Courtney named her Pinecones. Such a good name for a prickly hedgehog. She has only been in our home for 3 days and she has just wormed her way into our hearts. She is so cute! She is still getting to know us, and us her.
That is about the last month in a very small nutshell. Gotta go and work on cleaning and laundry. Hugs to all.
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