Christmas 2008

So now we are up to Christmas. For some reason I just couldn't get in the mood as well as I have in previous years. Don't know why, could have been many things; letdown over not going to Vietnam before the holidays; puppies destroying all Christmas decorations that were in reach - therefore not being able to put up a big tree but making do with a small tabletop tree in the (mostly unused) formal dining room; sister and brother, for some unknown reason, cutting me off for the last year; not having the $$ to go all out for presents like I usually do; concern about financing the last portion of the adoption - with not finalizing this year, I'll have to wait an additional year for the adoption tax rebate- thus another year of very tight finances and several other things. Did my best to be upbeat for the kids but it really got blown away when my son opened a box that had his big gift from Santa in it. I had thought it was something else and was flabbergasted when I realized what had happened. Luckily A was suspicious about Santa after walking in on me stuffing stockings last year so I told him the truth. He was OK with it and felt somewhat superior to his older sister who still believes. Although I don't know how she can, she saw the gift when he opened the box and again from Santa.

Christmas dinner was a bust also - amusing looking back - I'm not usually such a poor cook. I had gotten another turkey breast and all the fixins. This time the kids decided they wanted some stuff that I didn't have and I found that I was out of fried onions for the green bean casserole. So off to the grocery I went. Fried onions were a hard to find item and I was almost ready to call it quits when I found a small bag and grabbed the last one. Back home I finished preparations then realized that the turkey had to cook a lot longer than I thought. Had everything but the turkey ready for a 6pm dinner. Son was starving so I decided to have our dinner on Christmas day instead of Christmas eve. Fed A and ate a bit myself. Girls nibbled. When the turkey was done all three kids wanted to eat, I wasn't hungry but what could I do. They fixed themselves plates and watched TV while they ate. At around 9pm. We put everything away and fixed it again on Christmas day, another casual meal in front of the Wii which was the kids big present from me this year.

Otherwise a very relaxed holiday. I had taken a few days off to make it a full two weeks for me and we just kicked back and relaxed. It was a wonderful vacation albeit not a Christmassy one.

Adoption update - none

Round about a week or so before Thanksgiving my adoption agency said that they had everything they needed and there was only one step to go before I could travel to get my son. A paper had to be signed by the provincial police then signed by the DIA (central adoption office) and sent back to the orphanage or provincial something, then the G&A (official adoption ceremony in VietNam) could be set. The adoption agency didn't quite think it could be done quickly enough that I could travel and return before Christmas (I didn't want to be away from my kids at Christmas) but expected that I would be able to travel right afterwards. Well, as far as I know, that is where things still stand. I called the agency a week after Thanksgiving and they had no more information for me. I called just before Christmas and still no information, they shut down over Christmas (two weeks as far as I could tell) so no information when I called again on the 5th. They keep telling me 'soon', but I don't know what that means. Unfortunately, I can't travel at the drop of a hat and need some time to finalize arrangements for my daughters and the pets etc, all are tentatively set but details need to be finalized when the date is set. I figure I need a minimum of two weeks before I can get on a plane and would like at least three weeks. Well see, maybe I'll get some news this upcoming week.

Thanksgiving

Have I told you that I am not a cook? I can cook, but am somewhere between adequate and ok in the cooking department. So, Thanksgiving dinner was planned to be a Turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, green bean cassarole and pumpkin pie. With olives and stuffed celery on the side. Last year I cooked a whole turkey and ended up tossing a fair amount from the freezer as it had been in there too long. So this year it was to be only the breast as the 4 of us can't eat that much of a whole turkey. I decided to bake the turkey on top of the stuffing so the stuffing would pick up the juices. Don't know exactly where I went wrong, but the stuffing was either soggy mush (the part under the turkey) or burned crispy (the parts not under the turkey). So stuffing was off the menu. The rest of the meal was great and we made piggies of ourselves.

I'm Back - Happy 2009

Apologies to those who have been watching my blog, hoping for an update or some good news. Well there isn't any. By way of explanation, the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas has always been my favorite time of year, but the last couple haven't been so good. We lost a beloved family pet last year, right before Christmas when she somehow managed to get to some chocolate that had been pushed way back behind some stuff on the kitchen cabinet (we were baking and had left it there thinking it was safe, to be used the next day), my brother and sister have figuratively pushed me out of the family and aren't talking to me and I have no clue why and the Vietnam adoption stuff didn't come together as I hoped. And finally, I couldn't decorate like I love to because the horrible little monsters (HLM) aka puppies tore everything up, so I was, while not really depressed, seriously bummed.

We had an OK holiday season and the kids didn't seem to notice that mommy wasn't up to snuff so they had a good Christmas. I'll do a synopsis of the holidays, but in a couple of posts so it isn't a mile long.