It was a very cold Christmas Eve here in Florida. As in the coldest Christmas Eve since we moved here. That's been nearly 17 years, fyi. (17 years!!!) Everyone, even the Ohioian of us, were all bundled up.
Even the puppies needed some extra warmth. Etta's not a big fan of "clothes", but she's always happy to wear her thunder jacket, so we put that on her.
Porkchop had gotten a blue turtleneck and a cute little pair of pajamas to get him through the cold weather.
Phenom has his sweater, but he needs one on all the time in his old age, he gets pretty cold. So, in addition to his sweater I got him this little hoodie so when we had to wash his sweater, he had a backup.
Ellie also has a sweater, but it goes over her head, and that worried me with her ear infection and puffy face, so I looked around and found her a jacket that velcroed around her neck and waist.
Look how cute they all are dressed up!
As a Christmas Eve treat, I roasted them all some sweet potatoes and squash. (There was so much they got it Christmas Day too).
We all tried to stay warm, and watched some football.
And then we played the last Christmas punch: Deal or No Deal for Christmas Bucks.
Hayden made out the best with six Christmas bucks by keeping their case.
Peyton risked it all, and ended up with 1. Calib didn't do much better, earning a whopping $2 by keeping his case.
Calib also got a delivery from Jeff and got a Stamkos Lightning jersey, so that was cool.
Since my mom was here, we did Christmas mass. We don't do church, but if mom is here on a holiday, we go with her as a little gift. Look how thrilled we are all to be at church, standing along the wall because all the seats were taken in the church AND the over flow room.
But we made it, we did the first Christmas Eve mass at 4pm (because I refused to do church at midnight when the temperature would be 20 or colder), and then we were headed back home. Merry Christmas, mom!
When we got back, we got out all our food for our Christmas eve feast.
We grabbed a sandwich platter from Publix, ordered some sushi from Ginza, and made some other traditional Christmas Eve food.
Our hot food all came from our big Costco trip with mom.
Once our tummies were full, we played our traditional Minute to Win It games, starting with the Christmas Obstacle Course. You have to wrap a present, eat a cookie, get dressed in Christmas gear, and decorate a tree in the fastest time possible.
Then we have where you have to hang all the ornaments on the yard stick.
The blindfolded stack the cups into a tree game.
The next game was the one where you have to get the jingle bells out of the kleenex box that's tied to you without using your hands.
And finally the game where you have to scoop as many cotton balls in the bowl as you can in a minute while you're blindfolded.
After we play all the games, we have an auction for Christmas presents that the kids can bid on with their Christmas Bucks they've been earning all CHristmas. I apparently didn't take any pictures as we auctioned off everything from one of those hats that looks like Eddie's from National Lampoons Christmas, to a $25 Amazon gift card. It's always a good time. This year was no exception.
And then, per tradition, we opened our Christmas Eve presents: pajamas.
And we moved on to the one Waterstraut tradition we've kept around: Hot Chocolate in Santa mugs. This year we sprung for hot chocolate bombs instead of the powder.
You just pour the milk on them, and they melt!
EVeryone grabbed their hot chocolates and snuggled in for our annual Christmas Eve movie: Home Alone.
Asa and I did go outside, even in the cold, to check on the lights, and take a dip kiss picture in the middle of the street. How cute is this one? I love it!
Lots of room for presents under the Christmas tree this year.
And that's a wrap on Christmas EVe.
Christmas morning was just as cold as the day before.
But I managed to pull myself out of bed to fill stockings with Asa.
And around 10, we got everyone up for present distribution.
Between stuff from us, grandma, and even Nate and Allison, everyone had a good amount of gifts to open.
Peyton also got this awesome Gengar sweater from Jasmin that she had sent here.
Mostly, we got the kids things to do. Hayden got an excursion for the cruise in April, and on THURSDAY we're going to see HAMILTON!!!
Calib, Hayden and Asa have tickets to see Brian Regan in St Pete.
Peyton got stuff for her next trip to the Uk, including her baggage fee covered by us.
And since Jasmin is home instead of the UK, it was hard to get her anything (and Peyton says gifts make her feel awkward). So instead, we got them both all the train tickets for next trip, and some money to get food at Tesco. Merry Christmas, Jasmin and Peyton!
I was super sneaky this year, and surprised Asa with a rowing machine. He's wanted one forever, but to make sure he didn't find out I had to order it on an alternate amazon account, and have it sent to our neighbors house to hide it. When we ran to get stuff on Christmas Eve morning, Hayden and my mom snuck it back down here. It was a whole thing. But he was super surprised and excited for it.
My present was really Holidaycation, but I got a few things here and there. My new charcuterie board from my mom is super cool, and I love my new Disney mug.
And, as always, here is this years board games!
For lunch on CHristmas, I asked everyone if they wanted Santa pancakes or just leftovers, and they voted leftovers.
I can't say I was very ambitious on Christmas. The feels like temperature never got out of the 30s. So, I bundled up and watched a bunch of football.
Meanwhile, Asa used his rowing machine and started up a Madden franchise with Calib.
But man, 43 was the warmest it ever got. Phenom was not having it.
For Christmas dinner, we had our usual seafood feast.
Mom brought along my grandma's table cloth and napkins, too.
And while the Cincinnati Sattlers were rubbing my nose in the fact that they were spending Christmas in Hawaii where it was significantly warmer, I made sure to share the crab legs picture with Gwen.
We finished up the night watching movies in the blanket fort.
And having a little dessert.
We did also catch the Bucs game. I figured it would take a Christmas miracle for the 6-8 Bucs to win a game, especially on National Television as the Sunday Christmas night game. It did too, as they barely won it in overtime.
Monday Asa was off work for the holiday (since it fell on a Sunday). We mostly sat around playing games, complaining about how cold it STILL is.
For real, I can have a good attitude about the weather for a couple days. But, when were at like four days, I just start melting down.
Good thing my mom made lasagna for us for dinner last night. I was in no mood.
And when it is cold, I do have the blanket fort to cuddle up in. It's especially nice at night when the lights are on outside. It looks like some official place outside the window, like you're at the zoo or Disney or something.
Today was a little warmer, but even my Ohioan mom was still bundled up at 71 degrees. At least she was outside today!
I also had some great compliments today. Rick from down the street told me I really "made Christmas" this year with the lights and party, which was super awesome. Asa caught a little girl and her mother taking pictures under the lights, and they told us they've been walking under them every night. And John from down the street dropped us off some smoked bacon and cheese. I'm feeling the neighborhood love this year for sure.
Speaking of which, we did a light walk tonight and took some pictures to steal some ideas for next year. I already have a bunch more houses excited to get in on it and offering up to buy the lights if we've got people to climb their trees. And we have people to climb trees!
There are some great displays in the neighborhood. But I'm still partial to our street.
And that's it, I'm caught up on the blog. I will note, it's warming up. Today is the first day I can have the french doors open again. And tomorrow is totally my day. It's a high of 77, and we're going to see Hamilton and have dinner in Tampa!
Next up: Hamilton!!!