Post-Holiday Celebration

After our Friday Christmas celebration with all the Austins, our holiday celebration continued on Saturday morning with the three boys and their special ladies.

I'm not ashamed to brag but I made a very tasty egg and spicy sausage egg bake.

And grandpup Rey was the most well-behaved and well-loved girl in the house! Love days like that.

After the house was empty, I did some yarn shopping in Point for a special project. And today was church in the morning and a different kind of celebration this afternoon.

Hubby has developed quite the cough so I went by myself to give our friend (and 20 years' former newspaper coworker) condolences since she just lost her husband to cancer. Naturally, I arrive crying and saying I totally meant to be strong for HER! Ooof. I did see a few other newspaper coworkers so that was nice to catch up, too.

Wasn't long after that our predicted snow storm made it self known. We'll see what it dumps on us tonight. Since I'm on vacation and neither one of us has any place to go on Monday, I think we'll be just fine.

If you're traveling, though, be safe out there!

A Visit From the Wisemen... and Ladies

Just a quick note to say how blessed we're feeling after spending our family Christmas this afternoon/evening. All three wise guys were home at the same time! Hallelujah! 

We also had dad-in-law here along with Jim's sister and her family. Fully house with lots of great company and some good food if I do say so myself. After how many years, I finally got Jim's mom's dressing recipe right!! Now I just have to remember everything I did for the next time! (With perfect timing, Colin and Amy got us a dish towel with that recipe on it in Donna Mae's handwriting. Very touching!)

Had to be sure to get a cousins picture with all the C's: Clay, Casey, Carter, and Colin!

Opened presents later. The must have been very good for Santa to bring cans of PBR Beer Cheese Soup in their stockings!

Finally got to give the newest Mrs. Austin the sweatshirt I had a friend pick up for me in Austin, Texas. I have a matching one that I've been waiting to wear! What are Austin "vibes"? It's an Austin thing – you'd have to be one to understand.

And I'm so grateful I am.

We had a good amount of laughs reminiscing about a lot of childhood thing to make both Emily and Mamie feel even more connected to the family. It's what Christmas is all about. 

Let the merriment continue. Well at least through breakfast on Saturday. 😁💗

Pre-Merry Christmas

We had sort of an unconventional Christmas Day – for us anyway. Since the boys (and rest of the in-laws) are coming to celebrate tomorrow, today it was just us old folks. 

I decided right away that even though Santa had stockings filled for everyone, we shouldn't have to wait until tomorrow. It's officially Christmas after all! I was thrilled Jim got us a couple's membership to our golf course again. And a gift certificate to one of my favorite locally owned businesses. If I can adhere to some New Year's resolutions, I see some wardrobe changes courtesy of Rustic Redefined. 💗

In addition to missing the boys, but grateful we're just a day away from seeing them, we missed our angels – my mom and dad...

And Jim's mom. But these ornaments always remind us they are close in our thoughts and hearts. We did have dinner at Jim's dad's this evening, so that was nice!

Otherwise, today was also just busy – getting the house ready for company, some food prep, doing a family photo shoot (for hire) and now that I have those two trifle bowls, make them tonight for a customer.

Andes Mint Chocolate Avalanche Trifle (Does Culvers have that trademarked?).

And Peanut Butter and Chocolate Trifle – with both Nutty Buddy bars and various Reese's PB cups. I think she'll be pleased.

And Santa also brought us a Vikings victory today. Yes, we're well aware this win over the Lions helps the Packers, but we're just happy to have this one small Christmas gift with our third- maybe fourth-string QB this season! Pretty sure we'll still be in a good place for the draft! 💜💛

Be Christmas nice and let us have our joy! 😁

Hope all of you had one or many Christmas blessings go celebrate today!!

Christmas Eve

 

Our Christmas Eve is definitely more of a Silent Night vibe this year.

We both had the day off and I sang with my church at our 1 p.m. service. Then, by the time I was done, hubby was on his way to Rudolph to sing with the guitar choir there. After that, he had a little break to visit Dad before the St. Lawrence choir commitment.

While he was away, I did get all the Christmas wrapping done and two (so far) Christmas movies. 

And the big surprise of the day...

Two trifle bowls were delivered so I can deliver 2 trifles on Friday! The trifle gods really are looking out for me. And now that I have two extra bowls, I might have to start "Trifles on Demand by Robyn" in the near future.

Let's see what Santa has to say about that tonight!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

It's December 23. That means it's Christmas Eve Eve for all of us ... and Festivus for the rest of us. 

If you're not a fan of Seinfeld, you'll have to Google that one. And I was disappointed I didn't even have time to air my grievances today. Guess that's my grievance!

Had a hectic day at work because there are just so many things to wrap up before I start my holiday vacation. Couldn't quite get it all done before racing out of the office to get to my very important appointment with my hair artist. She is the gift that keeps on giving – every 6 weeks anyway!

After I got home, I finished up work and ... drum roll, please ... logged off until 2026! WHOOT!

We'll see if I can stay committed.

For fun, I visited 3 more stores to find a spare trifle bowl after I got a text from FedEx that what I ordered to be delivered by today has now been delayed until Friday night. Past my deadline for creating and delivering two. I think I found some plastic alternatives at the Dollar Tree (which has different inventory from Dollar General, by the way. Who knew?).

Must remind myself it's Christmas Eve Eve and I'm going to have let stress go. Work is done. I still have to get a few things figured out for our family Christmas Friday eve, but I'm officially switching to Hallmark Channel mode.

Where everything works out in the end. And maybe I'll even get a kiss under the mistletoe!

Oh dang, where can a girl get herself some mistletoe at this late date?! Another grievance, I guess!

Embrace the Spirit of the Season

I'm getting very close to resembling this as I realize what I failed to pick up this weekend. Getting close though.

And yes, though our WalMart supercenter had close to a million people again, I think I finally got all I needed. Plus ran into 3 friends and was able to wish them a Merry Christmas! It's like the gathering place for holiday greetings.

As a bonus today while working from home, a kind friend stopped by with a newly purchased trifle bowl for me to deliver on my promise this weekend. You know who you are and you know that I love ya!

This evening I am literally just putting piles of ingredients together for various Christmas-related dishes. 

And thankful I only have 8 more hours to work in 2025!!

Solstice Shopping and Singing

 

Happy Winter Solstice! Although officially today, I'd almost argue that yesterday and today seemed equally short when it comes to the "to do" and "tis done" lists.

Yesterday was a shopping whirlwhind. I went to the farmer's market/winter's market in Stevens Point in the morning because a new coworker was exhibiting his woodworking there – including something on my final list. 

Then I heard from the woman who successfully won a trifle of mine in a silent auction earlier this year. She'd like that plus an extra one she'll pay for. This coming weekend. Since my 2nd trifle bowl is MIA, I went to Goodwill in Point/Plover, Walmart, Kohl's and Target to see if I could find one. No luck.

Got home in early afternoon and showered (finally, ha) and got myself ready for an afternoon and evening of music.

First stop was the 4 p.m. mass at St. Philip's in Rudolph where a few of us (well hubby mainly and me by default) sang along during the service. Then it was off to Wausau to hear our friend Kat sing with STEEM and fun accompaniment by the Neenah high school symphony group.

A group of us went last year and it was so enjoyable to listen to – especially when you know one of the rockstars.

Jim's high school classmate Kat (Kathy) is pictured 3rd from the left.

Great to see/hear her solo performance. And since we've seen/heard her perform in several bands over the years, we could pick out and appreciate her beautiful voice throughout! A great concert for sure.

As a bonus, I ran into one my former co-workers at my current company. He has since moved onto TV only and is loving his gig in Salt Lake City, Utah. My work "sons" are all growing up!

Today was another day of shopping and singing.

Sang in choir and church and then went shopping to prepare (the best I could) for hosting Austin family Christmas later this week. I think I got most things. Shopping among thousands, I swear. Will have to reevaluate on Monday.

In the mean time, we got a Vikings win but I'm just hanging on for my fabulous fantasy football team to advance to our finals. We'll see if Santa grants one or both of those pending wishes or not.