Bugles And Bars (Christmas 2019)

We had a quiet Christmas this year as Katie, Avi, and baby Aaron were in Maryland. I guess you just never know how much you'll miss people until they're away, and I really missed them. They bring so much sparkle and energy into our home!

It was difficult getting motivated to decorate this year. It does get old being the only one doing the decorating, but luckily Jake and Brianna were up for it, and did a nice job getting the ornaments on the tree and the rest of the festive things out. I think the tree turned out especially beautiful this year, too.

We had appetizers on Christmas Eve, plus some homemade baked mac and cheese. And some calico beans for Bruce since he loves them so. (I told him that it was another Christmas present to him from me.) And then since I'm so used to cooking for a larger group of people, we had quite a bit of food left over. No worries, though ... we just ate it all up the following week. On Christmas Day, I experimented and made Chicken Cordon Bleu. It was fun to pound out the chicken, and roll it up with the swiss cheese and ham. I'm also not someone who likes to bake cookies, so in the end made a couple of pans of bars, lemon and chocolate chip brownie. Bugles and Bars! It just might be the new tradition.

We drew names again this year. Nick drew my name, and gave me some ceramic chicken measuring cups and spoons. I think they'll probably be too fragile to actually use, but I love them. They're now safe and sound in the china hutch.

I gave Mom a clock that not only has the time, but also the full date and year, the day of the week, and if it's morning, afternoon, evening, or night. It's been getting a littler harder for her to keep track of those things, but I think the clock is already helping. It's cool that there are things like that available.

Bruce gave me a turntable that looks like a vintage round hatbox, and I look forward to trying it out with the old vinyl albums that I still have. Hopefully the albums aren't too warped!

All in all, Christmas was good.

I'm glad that I still have a mom who can come over to celebrate, and I found myself thinking about Dad and how he loved to eat  all the food that I'd make. Funny how life marches on, you never seem to realize that it's changing until it's different.