Week 52: Family for days!

 December 22: 

 Baking was a bust yesterday, so today I kicked out 6 pies. Well, technically it was 7 since I burned one and had to remake it. Thankfully one of the pies was a freezer pie, so I basically had to mix the ingredients together and freeze it, no baking required. In addition to that, the remaining pies are all pies where the crust bakes with the filling so I lucked out there. Aside from the burnt pie, I messed up the cherry pie. It had a lot of liquid showing when I pulled it out of the oven. I sopped some of it up with paper towels and left it to cool. It seemed to thicken up when it cooled down, I just hope it remains that way after it thaws. 

 We went out to look at Christmas lights tonight and when our night was almost over, I was pulled over. The officer told me that my headlamp was burned out. I explained that it wasn’t out, just extremely dim as we just changed it within the last week. He advised that we have someone look at it and he let me go with a warning. Beyond that, our time together was so enjoyable. We sipped our drinks, looked at lights, and listened to Christmas music.  We were all so well behaved, I think we’ll have to do it again next year.

December 23: 

 We headed out of town today for our yearly Christmas visit with extended family. Because I knew we’d be gone on Christmas Day, I put a call into Santa to ask if he could drop off our gifts sooner, especially since the little one would be staying with his dad after Christmas for about a week or so. Thankfully, the guy in the red suit agreed, so we were able to celebrate by opening gifts at home together. Both boys received some great gifts. I love it when they really like something that I put a lot of thought into. The favorite gift of the oldest was an autographed poster from a band he loves. The little one seemed to love his Lego Technic Combine set. Little does he know that his grandparents got him the matching tractor. He also really likes his dinosaur headphones. He even asked to use them on our road trip, so he could listen to his audiobook. Overall, it was a wonderful time together.

December 24:

 Tonight we went to a candlelight Christmas Eve service and my oldest son almost caught himself on fire. Well, technically he did catch himself on fire, but it was just a singe to the tips of some of his hair. Thankfully it wasn’t worse. He was sitting in a pew in front of me, but with his dad, brother, and aunt. His dad JUST told his little brother to be careful with the candle so he wouldn’t burn anything and after those words were spoken, their dad looked up and saw it happen. He swiped at the oldest and between the two of them they saved his hair. I swear, sometimes I wonder how my kid will make it. LOL! After service we headed back to the in-law’s house and had their traditional Christmas Eve dinner, which is a favorite among all who are there. Earlier in the day, the boys dipped pretzels with their grandma, which is a favorite Christmas memory of my oldest and he mentioned that he misses doing that. So, we ran out of time to do it at home so I took the stuff with us to do it with her. They all seemed to have a good time, though the youngest stressed his grandma out a little bit with his inexperience. Between the two of them they got it figured out and he was successful with it and all of the almond bark was successfully used on the pretzel rods and twists. It was nice sitting in the living room listening to them while they made memories together.

December 25:

 MERRY CHRISTMAS! I am excited to see how excited the boys are for the gifts they receive from their family, but I’m also excited to give their cousin her gift. She’s always asking her grandparents to make steak for her on their Blackstone grill. While they love her very much, they say no. Steak is expensive and they usually have other plans for dinner when she’s there. Since my sister and I purchased a quarter side of beef, we decided to gift her some steak for Christmas! I hope she likes it and everyone gets a good chuckle out of her gift. Sadly, we can’t really wrap it since they need to stay frozen.

 After opening gifts, I can safely say that the boys were very pleased with their gifts and the thought that went into them. My oldest got some hair ties to pull his hair back that are thicker than most. Since he has such long and thick hair, it can be difficult for him to find ways to hold his hair back without giving him a headache or allowing his hair to fall out.  I hope these new ones work well for him. He also got a record, some clothes, and books that he wanted. The little one received Lego sets, books and clothes. While it’s not an extensive list for either of them, those are the highlights. I received some chocolate and a gift certificate so I can get a massage. I am very excited to use that after the new year! With the upcoming trip to New Mexico and the beginning of 2nd semester, I’m sure I’ll have some muscles that need to be relaxed. LOL!

December 26:

 Today was a day to recoup. I enjoyed our time with family over Christmas, but I’m glad to be home, though it’s strange to be here without the little one buzzing around with his 9 year old energy. I miss his constant hugs, his noise, and his presence. He can be frustrating sometimes, but he has a heart of gold and so much chaotic energy that is missing when he’s not here.

 I purchased the ornaments for the boys and a few Christmas gifts for next year. I did some minor calculations and if I purchase 1-2 gifts each month, I should be able to spread out the stress of Christmas purchasing (both financially and emotionally) to cover the entire year and give each person at least 2 gifts. Now, will the boys get more than 2 each? Of course, but if I consider the extended network of people for which I purchase gifts, I think this is very doable. 

 Aside from purchasing some things at the store, I didn’t do much of anything. Okay, that’s partially true. I did my laundry, packed my hair dryer, one shirt, and my toiletries. That’s it, folks. I will likely pack more once I finish typing this up, as I have a pie to make for my god-daughter tomorrow. She loves coconut cream pies so I’m gonna surprise her with one when we visit her this week. I’m really looking forward to our trip, spending time with some very special people, and seeing sites that I’ve never seen. I swear, if you told 16 year old Crystal that she’d be presented with opportunities to visit England, Washington, Colorado, Wisconsin, Georgia, Florida, and now New Mexico (to name a few), she would have told you that you were crazy. I’m even more happy that my children have been able to travel at their young ages and see how big the United States is. It is something that can be difficult to grasp until you actually see it for yourself.

December 27: 

 Today was a day of getting EVERYTHING done that I failed to do yesterday before leaving for New Mexico. Thankfully, we won’t be leaving until early evening and we’ll be driving through the night so we can arrive early in the morning and spend the first day exploring parts of the city and visiting. I’m taking the first leg of the journey for 3-4 hours, as it’s a 14ish hour trip (with stops) and there are four drivers. Many hands make light work, am I right? So, today I need to get a lot done for me to feel comfortable leaving and coming back to the house in a specific state. The first thing that needs to happen is that the Christmas decor needs to come down. I also need to actually pack the suitcase. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. Oh, and to surprise my god-daughter (the reason we’re going to New Mexico), I am going to be making a coconut meringue pie (her favorite). I hope it travels well and the meringue doesn’t shrink or crack too bad. I’m sure she’ll enjoy it regardless, but I’d like it to look pretty for her since she doesn’t get them very often. Let’s see, what else needs to be done… Oh yeah, I need to take recycling to the city recycling location, a light bit of shopping for discounted Christmas stuff for next year (don’t worry, no decor, wrapping paper, or cards, just some Christmas themed gifts). I should also try to relax for a bit since I know I have some driving in my future. We’ll see what happens. Enough typing, I must get to work!

December 28: 

 We safely made it to New Mexico around 5 or 6 am (if I remember correctly). We traveled, by suggestion, through Santa Fe to watch the sunset in the mountains and buttes in the area. It was breathtaking! We could see some snow capped mountains in the distance and so many buttes. The American Southwest provides some BEAUTIFUL sunrise views, at least in Santa Fe on Interstate 25. Then as we drew closer to Albuquerque, we were welcomed by some hot air balloons. I was aware that hot air balloons are popular in the area since there is a big festival every year, but I didn’t realize that people just fly them around the area too! In my life, I’ve seen some hot air balloons randomly and I’ve even helped roll one up in my youth, but when we got close to Albuquerque, there were like 5-8 in the air! I’ve only ever seen 2 at the same time! I can only imagine what it’s like during the yearly hot air balloon festival! 

 While we were traveling, my oldest realized that we’d only be about an hour an a half from Los Alamos, New Mexico and has requested that we visit the next time we come to New Mexico. This trip is focused mostly on visiting with my god-daughter and allowing her to play tour guide. She misses her mom and brother a lot, so this trip is much more about them seeing each other and much less about random day trips around local sites that are specific to my oldest son and his desire to see things that interest him.

 After arriving, we hung out at my god-daughter’s apartment for a while to chat and figure out what we’re going to do for the day. She made some overnight oats for her mom and was SO excited to share them with her. According to my bestie (her mom), they were very good! I’m not an oatmeal person so I did not try them, however they did smell good. I was able to surprise her with the pie. The meringue shrank a little and I accidentally smooshed some of the meringue during the trip when I put my arm in the back of the vehicle and hit the plastic cover of the pie. It was in a cooler so that it wouldn’t spoil during the trip, but it was a soft sided cooler. Regardless, her face lit up when she saw the pie! After spending some time with her and her boyfriend at the apartment, we traveled to a portion of Albuquerque called Old Town. She works in a tea shop that has a location in Old Town and she wanted to share the space with us. It has a lot of charm and shops! When the sun was fully out it warmed our skin very nicely, but the actual temperature wasn’t as warm, so when we stepped in the shade it was a whole other story! After spending a few hours there, we went back to the apartment and met up with the boys (who left after about 45 minutes in Old Town) and chatted about what the rest of the day would entail. Those of us who traveled (especially my oldest son) were all pretty tired and we discovered that we could head to our AirBnB a little earlier than check-in time to unload. After unloading the vehicle, the four of us sat around and the exhaustion hit us so we headed back out for dinner so we could head to bed early and recoup from our trip.

 I guess I should explain why I pointed out that my oldest was so very tired. For our trip, I ended up driving the first 4-5 hours of the trip. My best friend took over for about 1.5- 2 hours, which put us at about 2:00 am. At that point, my oldest took over and he also drove for about 4-5 hours during the very early morning hours. While he was driving, most of us took little naps in the vehicle. He didn’t sleep during the trip leading up to his driving time, nor did he sleep more than 30ish minutes after he was relieved of driving. So the poor boy was up for over 24 hours. Thankfully, he’s young and can bounce back easier than some of us, plus he made it a point to stay up overnight the evening before and sleep during much of the day we left. He also plans to go to bed tonight and sleep through the night to reset his sleep schedule while we’re here. He did a good job driving and I’m very thankful he wanted to drive that portion of the trip.

December 29:

 Today I woke up at 12:45 am. It’s now 2:19 and I’m not really tired, but I’ll probably go try and get some more sleep. I’ve been playing catch-up with some entries that I had not completed yet. I was hoping it would help my brain slow down. I’m going to go ahead and post this now, because I don’t exactly know what today is going to bring and I don’t want to hype myself up with ideas of things that don’t happen. There has been talk about the bulk of the crowd riding a tram up to the top of a local mountain. That’s not something that would bring me much joy. It would, in fact, bring me much panic and there’s no disco to attend at the top. So, I’ll likely stay at the AirBnB (which seems likely since I’m not freaking sleeping right now) or maybe find a tattoo parlor and get some ink while I’m in town. Who knows? Anyway, I’ll update more on my final post for the year, which will likely come on January 1. I’ll also be posting my goals and thoughts for 2025 in the hopes that I’ve created a new habit with what I’ve done this year.

Photos from our first day in New Mexico