Once again, we packed up a few days before Christmas and made the long trip to Thatboy's family for the holiday. We only were there for a few days, but his family let us know they didn't really have time to spend with us, because they had other things to do. Which meant we had a lot of time on our own.
Once I found out that we would need to occupy ourselves, I did a quick internet search and found out that a nearby museum was having a very cool sounding exhibit.
"Explore four floors of dazzling exhibits, play inside a village of laser luminescence and roam through a lustrous forest of touchable, radiant sculptures."
"Dance with circles of spinning light, design fluorescent art in a black light play area, create shadows on phosphorescent surfaces and dial a rainbow of pixelated color."
On Christmas Eve, Thatboy's family was finally ready to see us. At their church for services. So we got ourselves all dolled up.
We had dinner with the family, and then headed back to our hotel.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugarplums danced in their heads.
And while they slumbered, the man in red visited!
They woke up and dove right in!
Because Thatboy's family doesn't serve breakfast until....very late for children who awake before 6am, Santa always leaves a little something to tide them over.
After that we headed over to the inlaws house to wait a couple hours before breakfast and present opening.
Even Thatdog got into the spirit!
As soon as presents were open, TBIL kicked us out of his house so he could get things ready for his own sister in law who was coming over. Thatbaby took to the street to try out one of his gifts.
And before long, Thatkid joined him.
After nap, TSIL's sister and family showed up and it was good catching up with them. But before too long we all packed up our things to go. We had to get our things in order for our trip home the next morning.
And the next day, we loaded up the car and headed home. We did a short detour in Solvang to stretch our legs and grab a bite to eat.
I'm always thankful to be home after these trips. And although most of us are making New Year resolutions to eat healthier and cut down on sweets, I can't end a Christmas post with something...healthy. Christmas is about sweets right? I mean it's right there in "The Night Before Christmas." Those children aren't dreaming of salads. They're dreaming of sugar plums.
And since Thatbaby has been really interested in every Christmas treat feature in a song or book, it seems fitting to end the season with those self-same sugar plums. These are one of those cheater treats. Sure they're sweet - they're rolled in sugar, but their contents are prunes, almonds and apricots. They're practically diet food!
Sugar Plums (From Food Network Magazine)
1 1/4 cups toasted almonds
1 1/2 cups prunes
1 1/2 cups dried apricots
3 Tbsp honey
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg.
Demara sugar
- Chop all the ingredients in a food processor.
- Roll the mixture into balls.
- Roll the balls in the Demara sugar.
I mean, from what I've heard it's probably for the best that they didn't have time to spend with you guys....it sounds like you had a better time than you would have otherwise!
ReplyDelete