Men use aluminum wrap, women use plastic wrap

^ Title is because I promised Pam I would do so :)

So it's been a very, very, very stressful holidays. 1st there was some static about us not getting any gifts for anyone, especially my brother and girlfriend who always get us something. Unfortunately we have to watch every penny right now because we have a lot of the no-interest credit deals coming through in the next month so we can't get anything. Not to mention, Christmas isn't really our bag. I'd much rather see my kids happy because of a $10 toy than obligate $10 because I feel guilty about receiving a present from someone. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth and threats to not go we got that smoothed out.

On top of that, for Xmas day we had Pam's parents coming over and we have 2 turkeys that we got for free for Thanksgiving, so I decided that I was going to smoke one. No big deal right? Wrong. On top of taking 4 days to thaw in the fridge, it's another day just to make the brine, another day to soak it in the brine, another day to let it sit out and let the brine do it's work then rub it down and smoke it for 6 hours. So as I had not pulled the turkey out until Sunday, I had to cut a few corners. First I thawed it for 2 days in the fridge and 8 hours on the counter (still in the wrapper). Then when I made up the brine I put it in a snowbank for an hour and put some fresh snow in it to lower the temp to 40 degrees. I then left it outside for only 8 hours and took it out and baked it for 30 mins to hopefully kill any surface bacteria that may have been growing. Naturally, I forgot to get charcoal so I had to get that at a very, very busy Walmart. I came home, started the fire, put the turkey in, and prayed that it would work. For the life of me, I couldn't get the smoker thermometer over 150 no matter how much wood I put on it. I have an indirect smoker so I was just hoping that the cold weather was just messing with the thermometer. My fears were unjustified because after about 5 1/2 hours the turkey was actually done. I had to put it in the fridge and reheat it on Xmas day but it turned out really really good. I can't wait to do the other one (correctly, this time).

Of course that wasn't the only thing I had to do. Pam was sick so I had to do a fair bit of the cleaning and stuff for the house. We then went over to my Aunt's house for our Xmas eve schindig. It went pretty well, everyone was their best behavior, and my dad rented a Santa suit and showed up as Santa Claus. He did a really good job and he should think about doing it as a part time career :) Think about it, you sit all day and then just have to deal with kids, most of whom are in awe of you.

The kids got a ton of presents from a Black and Decker playset with more tools than I have, Barbie stuff, Spiderman (Laney loves him, don't ask why), a keyboard and a Hannah Montana guitar to drive us nuts. My little nephew Keegan got a drum set so at least I know Brandon and Sam are going through the same stuff as we are. Pam and I got $400 but only $250 was in cash and that's paying off our Menard's card. As an aside, can we abolish gift cards and stuff? I appreciate the money, but I can't pay my bills with a gift card and that's what MY Xmas wish is. Furthermore, you have to pay $3-5 to get the card, so essentially you'd save a few bucks just by giving cash. Of course if I say anything to the person who gave us the card, then I'd be "ungrateful" and such even though I have a valid and logical point. On top of that, I can't use it at Aldi's because they only accept debit cards and not Visa/MC.

Anyways, we finally got the kids home and we got to sit for a few minutes. Xmas day the kids got up and were being surprisingly patient waiting for Nana and Papa (they couldn't open presents until they got there). Pam and I were bustling around to get everything ready so that was appreciated. From "Santa" the kids got a skateboard, a bowling set, a new laptop with bag for Genna and a laptop like attachment for the computer for Laney and then a bike that attaches to the TV and you can pedal it to move you're character forward and collect letters and numbers on the track. It's pretty sweet, I even tried it out :)

So anyways, Xmas is now over and there is no more holiday stress which makes me a happy camper. Now we just have to figure out what the hell we're going to do with all these freakin toys! :)

"The heavenly aroma still hung in the house. But it was gone, all gone! No turkey! No turkey sandwiches! No turkey salad! No turkey gravy! Turkey Hash! Turkey a la King! Or gallons of turkey soup! Gone, ALL GONE! " - A Christmas Story