Dec. 26/Boxing Day Randoms

[beerlover]

I didn't see one of these yet.

We had a really nice Christmas, and were lucky everyone was healthy. Christmas Eve we just go to my parents, but Christmas Day is a little exhausting with us going 3 different places. We got home around 8:15 last night and watched It's A Wonderful Life (my fav Christmas movie) with DS. It was great sharing that with him for the first time!

Today is always the day that all the magic of Christmas turns to clutter and I want to throw everything out, lol. Not decorations, those stay up until Jan. 6, just everything else that's laying around. I don't want to deal with putting all of DS's stuff away. I know it all doesn't need done this minute but I can't stand all the visual clutter. It's getting better as he gets older though- less plastic toys and things that need put together.

Relaxing most of the day. I'm going to put some stuff away and do a light workout. I just finished 8 weeks of a pretty intense program so this week is mostly just fun workouts to stay moving.

TW - 

H and his siblings have to attend a viewing for one of their high school friends who was tragically killed by her husband a few days ago. They'll do that in the early evening. After that, we're going out to dinner while our kids sleep over at their grandparents. This is what we do instead of exchanging gifts.

[jinkies]

I hosted yesterday and need to finish cleaning up this morning.

After everyone left last night, we wanted to watch a Christmas movie. DD chose that old classic, Daddy's Home 2. LOL. It is legitimately a Christmas movie though and one we haven't seen a million times so it was kind of a refreshing choice.

[candreco]

I reheated a croissant in my new air fryer for breakfast, so good!

The kids are going shopping with my mom and aunt this morning and DH went into the office for a bit, so I'll be alone for at least a few hours. Planning to putter around tidying stuff up, get in a workout/shower, and peek in my work inbox for anything I need to be aware of.

Sadly, I think we do need to take down our tree today and everything else tomorrow. We leave for a quick trip to the ILs Thursday around noon, and the cleaners come that afternoon. I hate taking everything down so soon after Christmas, but I think the house will be cleaner if they're not working around all of the extra stuff. I'll probably leave the lights in the windows and a few other things that are easy to pack up until 1/6 though.

[deadwing]

candreco, I love my air fryer. Nothing beats crispy food!

I am disappointed with the gifts thread. Where are the tragically bad gifts?? I mean, I'm glad most people got good gifts. It's just not the entertainment I was looking forward to.

[noodleoo]

Back to reality. I have to work today so DD1 was sent to the camp run by the afterschool program. Most of her friends will be there and they're doing an inflatable obstacle course, but she still didn't want to go. Too bad kid, I'm sick of hearing "I'm bored" especially after all the money I spent on new toys/gifts for you! Her sister's daycare is closed so she's home with H who has the day off. I'll log off early and pick her up since it's dead at work anyway. Bummed I didn't have enough vacation time to take the whole week off this year.

Not sure what we're doing the rest of the week. Tomorrow both kids go to camp/daycare so H and I can have a "date day off". We never get those! I want a delicious lunch and maybe some shopping without kids so I can actually look for stuff for myself!

H's sister is in town for NY so we're doing his family this weekend. I'm not looking forward to it. They are the WORST at planning anything and it is always a disaster. The kids love their cousins so that will be fun.

[isabel]

Dec 26, 2023 10:23:53 GMT -5 deadwing said:

candreco, I love my air fryer. Nothing beats crispy food!

I am disappointed with the gifts thread. Where are the tragically bad gifts?? I mean, I'm glad most people got good gifts. It's just not the entertainment I was looking forward to.

You should go back and find the sweater my mom gave me a few years ago. I posted about it in that thread. It provided a lot of entertainment. Lol

[holly116]

Christmas Eve was a hectic day, but then yesterday was perfectly easy. We woke up and did presents, 11:30 mass, and then an entire afternoon/evening in comfy clothes watching football and eating leftovers/Christmas cookies/candy.

Today I'm in the office while DH is home trying to clean/organize with three kids lol. Godspeed, DH. I feel like I've won this one. The other working mom is here too and she ordered lunch for everyone in here today. It's delightful to have the time to get a few things knocked out without distraction. I often say that I go to work to relax and today is 100% one of those days.

[sadie]

Off to see Wonka this am.

Dog #1 is at doggie daycare today because it's been rainy/muddy for days and she.needs.to.run.

Major cleanup today; cleaning lady comes tomorrow.

Otherwise, no huge plans. Kid #2 has been enjoying his drone all morning. Fun to hear his giggling.

I'm off until at least 1/2. I tentatively took 1/2 and 1/4 off but am undecided if I'll actually take off or not. I might be ready for away from family time by then, lol.

[stemmie]

That is so sad beerlover. I have a funeral tomorrow but it's for a well-loved elderly neighbor of my mom's which is entirely a different thing.

I plan to do nothing. Nothing. After I put away my China from last night, I am curling up with a book. Tomorrow, I also need to do a fasting blood draw and get some stiches removed. I damaged #7 and had to have it pulled. The remaining stitches are ugly and annoying. It's everything I can do to refrain from doing it myself.

[wanderingback]

We had a lovely day with lots of family. My grandma is 106 and we got some lovely pics. My aunt cried cause everyone was together, that was sweet.

But I’m definitely a Scrooge As mentioned before me and my partner don’t do gifts, but of course people are gonna get our daughter stuff. I guess it wasn’t too too too bad but just all the trash and waste and plastic that just made me sad. Like just her stuff was 3 trash bags of wrapping paper and bags. Our apartment only has but so much space. I guess it’s just once a year so I’m gonna have to get over it but for some reason seeing all the trash and waste just really got to me.

[eddy]

I just rage cleaned and feel so much better. A weekend of entertaining/hosting/cooking plus all the Christmas presents. Now the relaxing part of break can begin. I really went all out this year. I leave the decorations up because I love them. Everything else is now organized.

I am going to go do a long workout. I don’t plan to do much else besides read, watch movies and drink wine. We will eat all of our delicious leftovers.

[loira]

Dec 26, 2023 10:23:53 GMT -5 deadwing said:

candreco, I love my air fryer. Nothing beats crispy food!

I am disappointed with the gifts thread. Where are the tragically bad gifts?? I mean, I'm glad most people got good gifts. It's just not the entertainment I was looking forward to.

I mean, nothing will ever top the big armed baby painting so maybe we just peaked years ago and everything else is only slightly awful in comparison?

[nsl]

H had to work today, so it's just me and the kids. Our cleaning lady is coming around 1:00, so we'll tidy up the house and then clear out for lunch so we're not underfoot while she's here. I may propose going to Wonka, but I suspect that the kids will vote to hit Target and Barnes and Noble so they can spend some of the gift cards they got yesterday.

We got an unexpected check from my parents at our family Christmas dinner last night, and I'm thinking of proposing that we use it on a trip to Disney this spring break. We still have park tickets from a cancelled April 2020 trip that aren't refundable, and Southwest flights are downright reasonable for that week. It's also a rare year when the kids and I all have the same spring break--we're in three different districts--and if we go Saturday-Wednesday H will only have to miss two days of work.

[macmars45]

It's a work day for H. DS does have tutoring at 9am so that's good. This morning we'll do a puzzle and put together a lego set. This afternoon we'll go to the library and to pick up our prescriptions. Another day of keeping autistic DS(7.5) entertained and not on the tv all day. Super fun. /s

[loira]

wanderingback, liked your post for the family time, not the plastic. We don't have a ton of space either, and when A was little I used to just donate about half of the stuff she got because it was all too much.

[blondemoment123]

I'm on total sensory overload. All of the toys are loud AF and I'm tempted to grab DS's noise cancelling headphones just to function. DS is also loud AF lol.

[pandorica]

H and I are still recovering from our christmas stomach bug. The babies might not feel well either, they were so cranky yesterday and today, and I just don't have the energy to handle it.

My parents just left to go home, and my ILs arrive this evening for round two. I've got the guest bed sheets washing and need to find the energy to finish with that. I have no energy to clean anything else in this disastrous post-Christmas house.

How did my kid get so many gifts but still say she's bored and needs someone to play with her??

[pandorica]

Dec 26, 2023 10:23:53 GMT -5 deadwing said:

candreco, I love my air fryer. Nothing beats crispy food!

I am disappointed with the gifts thread. Where are the tragically bad gifts?? I mean, I'm glad most people got good gifts. It's just not the entertainment I was looking forward to.

I posted in the Randoms thread yesterday about the gift H got for MIL that's hilariously bad and I'm so excited for him to show her 😂

[ohgillian]

Dec. 26th is one of my favorite days of the year. I find Christmas hard and so I love the hopefulness that comes from being thru it all. I know this is weird.

It's also the 11 year anniversary of a scary surgery for one of my children. So I feel really grateful for that.

All in all, so far so good today.

[basilosaurus]

I delayed the turkey cooking because day of doesn't matter here. It already took 3 years to source turkey, and I certainly don't have fridge space to defrost. It was styro cooler all the way with twice daily purchases of ice bags. I wanted extra dry brine time.

Con: the partner who's never cooked any bird of any kind had really strong opinions on how I'm doing everything wrong. Fuck him: ignore.
Pro: ex pat friends were so thrilled I was just handing them meat to take home and praising it. Even if they were lying, it's better than anything we've had access to for many years. I want to share my over priced bounty. It may have required a makeshift ice box and garden shears, but I got that mofo done.

Even bigger pro, thanks to a snafu when I ordered in early November, I'm repeating tomorrow, and I think this will be even better.

I'm still a shit butcher, and it doesn't help I don't have sharp carving knives (even at my friend's commercial kitchen whose ovens and pans I've used), but to bring a taste of home to people who've been gone in some cases for decades was all the accolades I needed. Hell, a full freezer is all I needed.

My friend, the chef with the pro kitchen ovens he let me use freely, tried to show me how to cut through the joint, and even he couldn't do it. I was dripping sweat down my back when I finally portioned the meat parts, but, dammit, I did it!

[blondemoment123]

deadwing



Here's one for you. A duck night light from my brother.

[deadwing]

Dec 26, 2023 11:36:33 GMT -5 pandorica said:

Dec 26, 2023 10:23:53 GMT -5 deadwing said:

candreco , I love my air fryer. Nothing beats crispy food!

I am disappointed with the gifts thread. Where are the tragically bad gifts?? I mean, I'm glad most people got good gifts. It's just not the entertainment I was looking forward to.

I posted in the Randoms thread yesterday about the gift H got for MIL that's hilariously bad and I'm so excited for him to show her 😂

I saw that post!  Definitely the best bad gift reported so far.  I look forward to hearing how your MIL receives it.

[plutosmoon]

My house is officially carpet free! Dad and I managed to pull the last of the stair carpet yesterday. The stairs look a little rough from all the staples and the trim was pretty much destroyed, so we pulled that off too. The amount of dirt that we swept up after was so gross, I know I made the right call to remove it.

My parents are still here for a few more days. I need to tackle some painting and organizing, and fit in a few fun things for DD this week.

[quesyrah]

Dec 26, 2023 11:16:38 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

We had a lovely day with lots of family. My grandma is 106 and we got some lovely pics. My aunt cried cause everyone was together, that was sweet.

But I’m definitely a Scrooge As mentioned before me and my partner don’t do gifts, but of course people are gonna get our daughter stuff. I guess it wasn’t too too too bad but just all the trash and waste and plastic that just made me sad. Like just her stuff was 3 trash bags of wrapping paper and bags. Our apartment only has but so much space. I guess it’s just once a year so I’m gonna have to get over it but for some reason seeing all the trash and waste just really got to me.

I hear you. We are not gift loving people either. This year we told everyone we were not exchanging gifts. My kids still got some gifts but thankfully it was way scaled down from years past and mostly gift cards.

I tried for years to get family to give them experiences, tickets to the movies or the zoo, ice cream GCs etc. but no one would go for that.

[devonpow]

My meta quest saga continued today (if you missed it, we ordered DS2 the meta quest 2 for Christmas from game stop. He opened it yesterday morning to discover the box didn’t contain the device but was full of random pieces of wood).

Game Stop took the random box of wood and gave us a refund easily, but they don’t have any in stock anywhere in the state and aren’t expecting them until mid January. So we began a saga through various Targets and Best Buy’s. Target has one left but just the visor, no hand things. Finally we found some at Best Buy but only the Meta Quest 3 which is SO much more expensive. We gave in and got it. Poor kid was a champ about basically not getting his big gift yesterday, and I just can’t make him wait another month.

This whole situation was pretty annoying.

[mrsukyankee]

I am 55 today. Such a weird age. I'm not quite sure how to feel about it.

Went on two dog walks, took a long hot bath using the bath bombs my H got me for Christmas, H made us an early dinner/late lunch of rack of lamb. We have friends coming over later today for snacks and drinks. My sort of birthday.

[quesyrah]

Dec 26, 2023 12:29:51 GMT -5 devonpow said:

My meta quest saga continued today (if you missed it, we ordered DS2 the meta quest 2 for Christmas from game stop. He opened it yesterday morning to discover the box didn’t contain the device but was full of random pieces of wood).

Game Stop took the random box of wood and gave us a refund easily, but they don’t have any in stock anywhere in the state and aren’t expecting them until mid January. So we began a saga through various Targets and Best Buy’s. Target has one left but just the visor, no hand things. Finally we found some at Best Buy but only the Meta Quest 3 which is SO much more expensive. We gave in and got it. Poor kid was a champ about basically not getting his big gift yesterday, and I just can’t make him wait another month.

This whole situation was pretty annoying.

I’m glad it was at least easy to get the refund. I saw your post and wondered if they would give you a hard time.

[wanderingback]

Dec 26, 2023 11:27:03 GMT -5 loira said:

wanderingback, liked your post for the family time, not the plastic. We don't have a ton of space either, and when A was little I used to just donate about half of the stuff she got because it was all too much.

Yeah I’m trying to figure out how to navigate this re: donating. We have a very active buy nothing group in my neighborhood so I know stuff could go to good use. Her birthday was last month and my cousin got her this big music/piano table and just the other day my mom was like did you set up the music table yet?!?
I guess I’m just gonna have to be honest.

[wanderingback]

Dec 26, 2023 12:24:52 GMT -5 quesyrah said:

Dec 26, 2023 11:16:38 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

We had a lovely day with lots of family. My grandma is 106 and we got some lovely pics. My aunt cried cause everyone was together, that was sweet.

But I’m definitely a Scrooge As mentioned before me and my partner don’t do gifts, but of course people are gonna get our daughter stuff. I guess it wasn’t too too too bad but just all the trash and waste and plastic that just made me sad. Like just her stuff was 3 trash bags of wrapping paper and bags. Our apartment only has but so much space. I guess it’s just once a year so I’m gonna have to get over it but for some reason seeing all the trash and waste just really got to me.

I hear you. We are not gift loving people either. This year we told everyone we were not exchanging gifts. My kids still got some gifts but thankfully it was way scaled down from years past and mostly gift cards.

I tried for years to get family to give them experiences, tickets to the movies or the zoo, ice cream GCs etc. but no one would go for that.

Yeah I think I need to think ahead next year. I wanted to open a 529 and I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Once she gets older experience gifts are a good idea!

[pumpkin]

Today was supposed to be my 1st day back to work after 2 weeks off, only I have a horrible cold so I called in sick and am having a day of rest. Will try again tomorrow.

I’m still annoyed with my family’s Christmas celebration and am going to reflect on that for a few days since I think it might be the typical plan going forward and I’m just not happy about it. Sometimes adult relationships are just hard and I think I need to figure out how to manage better.