Off the Wagon

I may as well come clean to my blog-followers. I'm back on the Diet Coke. It didn't make me feel better to not drink it. So, as I write this I'm enjoying a large Diet Coke from McDonald's and getting my day off to a lovely caffeinated start.

New Year...New Me

I will be the first to tell you that I am not cut out to be a party girl. I don’t recover well from all-night or even late night parties. It doesn’t matter if it’s just friends drinking Diet Coke and playing Catch Phrase until 3 in the morning, it takes me a couple of days to recover. Ask my Mom. She can wholeheartedly attest to this fact.

So, I am NEVER much fun on New Year’s. I tend to be mopey and depressed all day. Well, this year I had my normal New Year’s Day funk, and we were supposed to go bowling with my in-laws. It actually ended up being very fun. We went over to the Johnsons’ house afterwards for spaghetti and a movie. On the way home we went by Liz’s to walk Caesar, and then we went home.

Well, on Saturday morning I woke up to go walk Caesar, and I had the awfulest funk in my throat. It persisted throughout the weekend which was frigid. Monday my throat felt better, but my ears had started to hurt so bad that they were giving me a headache. I didn’t have a runny nose or anything else, so I just thought I had a migraine or something. By Friday, I couldn’t tolerate it anymore, so I went to the doctor. I had fluid built up behind my ears which was causing the excruciating pain, and I had a sinus infection which didn’t help.

Well, today I’m back to normal! I’m so happy. Today is the first day in 2010 that I can say I feel really good. I should be back to blogging on a regular basis. I’ve got lots of plans for 2010 of course, and I look forward to sharing another year with all of you.

Christmas Behind-the-Scenes

I know I referenced an idea I had for gift wrapping. Well, here is a picture of how it turned out. It's grosgrain ribbon (which I adore) and a red jingle bell. I did some with red 1-inch grosgrain ribbon, too.

Also, about food. I've started this thing of taking pictures of my plates of food. I know it's very strange, but here is a picture of my Christmas breakfast. This is pretty close to my dream breakfast: country ham and cheddar biscuit, honey and butter on a biscuit, and butter and blackberry preserves on a biscuit.

Here is my Christmas Day dinner plate: honey glazed ham; one of my mom's wheat yeast rolls; the two dishes I made: warm pineapple salad and hash brown casserole; and my mom's cranberry/apple dish.

The Johnsons do a really cool thing for Christmas Eve food...it's sort of like football food. Ham and rolls, dips, sweets, but enough to fill up on. I love it! I made one of Granny June's recipes. Here it is.

Mississippi Sin
1 loaf Italian bread from the bakery section of the grocery store.
1/3 c. chopped onions
1 1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. chopped ham
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 c. chopped green chilies
8 oz. Cream cheese
Dash Worcestershire sauce

Slice off top of bread and hollow out. Mix all ingredients and pour into hollowed-out bread. Put top on bread; wrap in foil and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Use crackers or chips to dip. After an hour, I find that I have to unwrap and take off the lid of the loaf and let it bake about 10 more minutes. At this point I just lay the lid on the baking sheet next to the dip, and I also put the pieces I dug out on the sheet too. They're delish for dipping!

Christmas Catch-Up

First, there was the Dugan Christmas the Saturday before Christmas. We got together in M'boro this year at Grandaddy and Mom Glenda's house.



The next day was the Family Christmas at TPOM. I didn't get very good pictures of the performances by my brothers-in-law at this event, but I did get a good shot of AbiLyn with her Papa.

Monday before Christmas was Cookie Night with the Johnsons. They've done this every Christmas since Mackenzie was little, and I think this may be the first year I've remembered to take my camera.




Christmas Eve we gathered again at the Johnsons' house. Here are just a few of the pictures.





After we left the Johnsons' house we headed to the lake for a first-time event. My family tried having Christmas Day at the lake, and it was really nice. David and I were able to go straight there Christmas Eve night and stay until the day after Christmas.

Notice

I promise I will have a full post-holiday rundown with pictures up here in the next day or so. We got home yesterday and de-Christmased our house, and I haven't had my camera until today, so anyway...excuses, excuses, I know!

Until tomorrow.

Christmas Eve

I am so happy to be off work now and all settled in at the Johnsons' house! We will hang out, eat yummy finger foods and dips, watch Mackenzie and Taylor open their gifts, and run out at the last minute to Wal-Mart or K-Mart for absolutely no reason.

I adore Christmas Eve with my second family!

Here Comes the Sun...Doo do doo doo

Yesterday was December 21...the shortest day of the year. It's behind us now. The days will only get longer. The sun will stay out a little bit more every day.

I am always glad to say farewell to the shortest day of the year!