Let the Games Begin!!

It's fake Christmas Eve for my family today, as we are celebrating Christmas with Spousehole's family tomorrow. When Boy gets home from school (around 4:30 - full day today!), we'll drive up to my in-laws' "lake house." My brother-in-law will be there with his wife and 3-year-old daughter. Tomorrow morning will be fake Christmas morning, with stockings and gifts from Santa for everyone. We'll exchange gifts and hang out. Spousehole's other two sibs will join us in the afternoon. They want to wait to do Santa stuff and stockings with their parents on the real Christmas.

The kids will love it. Me, not so much. It will be hard knowing that this is likely the last Christmas we'll spend all together, fake or otherwise. It will be difficult to not tell everyone, but we don't want to spoil the holiday. When we do finally tell them, my FIL will probably give us a major lecture on how we are not only disappointing him but God as well. That we made a promise to God and by divorcing we are reneging on that promise. Blah, blah, blah. He thinks if he yells and lectures enough, people will do what he wants. (See where Spousehole gets it?)

So anyway, if you don't hear from me for a couple days, it is because I am up north drinking heavily spending quality time with Spousehole's family.

In other news, Girl got a "big girl" bed (mattress, box-spring, and frame) from her grandparents for Christmas. We set it up on Wednesday and she has slept the last two nights in it. She is very, very excited. She keeps saying "It so big!" (It's a twin-size, but that is ginormous for someone only 25 pounds - and it's almost as high as she is tall.) It is pretty huge compared to her toddler bed. Her Daddy has slept in it with her, but we hope to phase out that part very soon. Similarly, I have been laying down with Boy in his bed until he falls asleep, then moving to my own bed. So far, he has been staying in his bed by himself and not following me to my room. So far, so good. "Operation Kids Sleeping In Their Own Beds" takes a giant step forward!!

Need a last minute snack to take to a gathering or give as a gift? This is easy and SO YUMMY:

You take, waffle-weave/checkboard/square pretzels, like these:

Spread some out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Place one Hershey's Hug, unwrapped(!), on each pretzel.
Place cookie sheet with Hug-topped pretzel in preheated 170 degree (F) oven for 3-4 minutes, until the Hugs are softened, but not totally melted.

Remove from oven and immediately place one red or green m&m on top of each hug, pressing down just slightly. Place cookie sheet in refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes to re-solidify the Hugs.

You have a sweet and salty treat that everyone will love!! So simple, the kids can even press the m&ms into the Hugs (170 degrees isn't too terribly hot).

You can make them with Kisses too. Just increase the time in the oven to 5-6 minutes. Don't try to do Hugs and Kisses on the same cookie sheet, because they melt at vastly different rates!! I prefer to make these with Hugs because the stripes make it look way too cool. Solid chocolate works but doesn't look as cool.

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God is a sadistic bastard - who knew?
Edit: I have a fingernail that is torn halfway down the nail bed and catches on everything. It hurts like you would not believe. When I caught it on something earlier, tearing it a little more and causing more bleeding, I said "Jesus, Joseph, and Mary Mother of God that hurts!" Spousehole had a fit. He told me I was going straight to hell. His words were "When you die, God will have no questions for you, you are just going to straight to hell." This piqued my curiousity. I asked why God would have questions for me, because he knows everything I've ever done and everything I have ever thought. He knows it all, what's to ask? The explanation surprised me. Apparently, in Spousehole's version of death, God basically uses the Socratic method to draw out of you the justification for your own salvation or damnation. Essentially, you damn yourself to hell. I thought that this didn't really gibe with freely given Grace preached in our particular Protestant denomination, but Spousehole didn't seem to think so. Okey dokey. God is a Socratic-method sadist who tricks us into damning ourselves to hell. Who knew?