Boxing Day with the Eagles

 

Yesterday morning we ended up not getting to Mass - not that we needed to, since we'd gone Christmas Eve - because Travalon's brother and sister-in-law said they were going to be visiting his mom at ten with a cheesecake, so we had to hit the road right away. We got back home in time to watch the Packers game, and their improbable march towards the playoffs continues because they kept intercepting the Dolphins. Now that was a Christmas present to the whole state of Wisconsin!! 

Richard Bonomo had a small group at Christmas this year; besides us and Kathbert, it was the guy who makes fabulous desserts, the woman who has a fabulous porch, the guy Travalon likes to talk about classic rock with, and another woman who stopped in briefly but brought ratatouille. Rich made lasagna for twenty and I made cassata for thirty, so we have lots of leftovers. Kathbert and I both brought cranberry sauce; her secret ingredient was orange juice, while mine was blueberries. The guy who makes fabulous desserts also brought a quiche Lorraine, and the classic rock guy brought a green bean casserole. For dessert, besides my cassata, we also had tres leches cake and Basque cheesecake, courtesy of the dessert guru. It was truly a Christmas feast. Rich lit a menorah, but none of us knew the prayers to say, including the Jewish guy, so we just sat watching him do it. We also had plenty of wine thanks to the woman with the fabulous porch, but I didn't bother making my eggnog this year, since my recipe serves thirty. Though I will say it stores beautifully and just keeps tasting better as the days go by, but it's really labor-intensive, and we definitely had enough calories with all the other stuff. 

It had been so cold for days that Travalon and I were only getting exercise by walking around the house, but yesterday I had bad shin splints, which surprised me - I don't usually get those unless I attempt jogging. I did my stretching exercises (spelling the alphabet with my feet), and after we got home from Rich's, I was fine to walk again, so I got my 10,000 steps for the day just before midnight.

Today we had a leisurely morning, enjoying the biscotti my coworker had made with our coffee, then I dug into the plaster crystal. And there was a real one inside of it!

Here are all my crystals from the Advent calendar. Notice there are twenty-one when there should be twenty-four.

I had left a message on their customer service line, and to my surprise someone called me right back and asked me to send a photo of the crystals I had received. Since I had just taken the one above, that wasn't too hard. It seems that I was cheated of the most valuable crystals: the green aventurine, the jade, the amethyst, and possibly the carnelian if I got two that were the same. Not sure? I'll let them sort it out. They promised to send me the missing ones. Also good news: I received my settlement from that huge data breach a few years back. Guess what? It's a whopping $5.80.

After that, we drove out to Sauk to look for eagles, and we saw seven on the island, several at the VFW Park, and a whole bunch flying around at the dam or standing on the ice. 

On the way home, we drove through the tunnel outside of Lodi.

As we were heading home, Travalon got a call that his brother (a different one than the one we saw yesterday) is in the hospital with a blood infection, so if you can spare a prayer or a good thought for him, we would be most grateful. It seemed warmer than it had in days, so after Travalon left to visit his brother, I went for a long walk in our neighborhood and enjoyed this winter sunset.

Tomorrow it's back to work, but I'm rolling in late, when Travalon drops me off before he has to head into work. This time of year, it doesn't really matter. I was going to take the whole week off, but of course I have a meeting on Thursday, so I might as well work since Travalon has to.

Famous Hat