Wednesday, December 28, 2016

A birthday, Christmas & a burning face... thanks jalapenos

I can't believe Christmas is over...

& I can't believe we still have 2 more celebrations to go to.

It's the gift that keeps on giving. Literally.

Saturday, Ricky let me "sleep in" & by sleep in, that meant I had to be up at 7:30... it was his birthday after all & much to celebrate.

I made the birthday boy a big breakfast & it wasn't long before we were headed out to the stores for some final shopping.

I always tell everyone, we are the ones who no matter how early we start, we'll be out on Christmas Eve still going.  It never fails.

In all honesty, I had given Ricky a birthday gift that he loved so much, he wanted my dad & brother to have one too. I had actually gotten my dad one too so Ricky was like, "we've got to get your brother one"... & headed out to Sam's Club to find out they were sold out of this item. GREAAATTTT!

We have a tradition with Ricky though that he gets to pick out his place of choice to eat - I can't give any grief over it no matter how badly I want to.... & this year, he chose Outback.

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I dont complain about that. They have a great salad & even better sides. I swear, I dont know what they do to their broccoli but its gotta be something to make that healthy food really not healthy - it just tastes so soft & buttery. Forget the blooming onion - get the broccoli when you're there.

It was so cute when our waiter was like, "Merry Christmas" & I said, "No sir - not yet!  We are here celebrating his birthday" & the waiter was so kind to him about it. Asking him if he wanted a drink since it was obviously his 21st birthday.  He really was the best waiter.  When he came to take our order, Ricky had run out to the car to get kleenex (poor guy STILL isn't 100%) & the waiter asked me, "Did I scare him making him think we'd come embarrass him for his birthday?"... Ricky does get a little fearful of that.  Me? I'm like, EVERYONE - LET'S SING & DANCE!!! We are cut from 2 different cloths, for sure.

But they did give him a little birthday treat...

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We left & headed over to my brother's for my families Christmas.

We got there at the perfect time... they were making Peanut Butter balls. MMMMMMM....

Sophia is such a little baker

My family usually orders chinese take out & eats while we go out for Ricky's birthday but they got a late start.  So while my brother & dad went to go pick up their food, we got into an intense game of HeadBandz Act Up.  It's such a fun game. A cross of HeadBandz & Charades.



We had the best time...



That picture makes me laugh because my sister in law couldnt get it & the twins, in all the blurry movement, was jumping & rocking back & forth that she couldnt get PLAYGROUND (its harder than you think)

Games are just the most fun.

Except when you have the word JAPAN... ask my niece- that's not a fun game to her.



We also took some time & I let Sophia play a little with my camera. She always tells me she wants to be a photographer one day so we walked around & I let her use my camera to snap some pics.  I love sharing the love of photography & cameras.

I had to take the camera over though & get a picture of the girls with my mom.

I had to laugh a little when I saw that Sophia is almost as tall as my mom is now



My dad & brother got home & time to grub down...



Finally time to get to some gift giving....

The girls favorite time of the year.

#AllTheGifts!!!

... except Sophia wasn't too excited when her Papaw wrapped up a tiny pair of earrings in a few dozen boxes.

She found no amusement in this....

Her face cracks me up.. & this isn't even the final box

My favorite gift of the year was giving the girls the whole collection of Harry Potter.

I've waited for this day since they were born.

They are finally readers & we were out one night after a movie night & they had said they wanted to read it. You dont have to tell me twice.

Their reaction when they opened it up was so priceless to me too.  I wish I captured that, but I was too busy beaming myself.



... but the real stars of the Christmas was my SIL's new little brother & sister.  Her parents live on the front part their property so she drove up & got her new babies & brougt them back..

two little poodle puppies.

OH MY GOODNESS!!!

His name is Teddy

Ricky kept telling me, "No... no... no... no ... no... Rebecca, we're not getting a new puppy"

But by the time they were leaving to go home, he was pulling out his wallet & asked if he could buy them from her.
yeahhhh  - like that was going to happen.



My brother's dog not too sure of this little fella
... & BTW, that's my brother's hand... he really does exist... he just isn't a picture person
We got home just in time to settle in & watch A Christmas Story until we both fell asleep on the couch in front of the tree... a perfect ending to Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning - I loved so much it was on a Sunday.  We were heading to church - the perfect place to celebrate Jesus birthday.

I guess most everyone else went the day before on Christmas Eve because this huge church was nearly empty... but I loved it because it made it feel really cozy & personal.

It was just so beautiful in there - & the music was simple & heart warming...




It was so nice too because our friends were there & we got to give some hugs & kisses to our Grand buddies on Christmas morning.

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Emerson loved being in the front row, she was dancing & swaying to the music... & yes, those are her little stuffed animals on the floor. They need to give Jesus a Happy Birthday too.

They headed off to family after the service & we were going to head home to meet up with our youngest girl but she ended up needing to go somewhere in a few hours so it wasn't worth her to drive all the way out to our house- we said we'd do it the following day & then we ended up at Steak & Shake for lunch.

A Christmas Mocha Milkshake

That was a new one for us on Christmas day.  It was PACKED too!  People were waiting for a seat.
& good Ricky - he gave a 100% tip to our waitress for working on Christmas day.

We actually were going to go to the movies & see Rogue One, but Ricky still hasn't felt the best - bless him... so we said let's just go home & relax for the day

... & that's exactly what we did...

until I thought I was going to have to go to the hospital.

It started off innocently enough.  I wanted to make some sweet potato, quinoa crock pot chili....




Everything is going in the crock pot - even the jalapenos I had to cut up & un-seed.

All smooth enough. Except the onions made my eyes water so much, it made my nose run. So I got a kleenex & blew my nose & I guess my fingers rubbed around my nose through the kleenex because all of a sudden, it felt like I had dipped my face into the pits of HELL!!!

My face was on ON FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

& then the cuticles of my fingers were burning - & then I couldnt stop touching parts of my face - like the corner of my eye (because my eyes were freaking watering like a faucet)

& I couldnt get it to stop burning.  It just kept getting more & more intense.

Of course, anything medical, you MUST go to Web MD... & I found out I'm dying...

no, not this time..

but I did see people said to put milk on your face.  Well, we dont have milk in our house.  So I read on & someone said yogurt works - so I opened a new container of greek yogurt & nearly gave myself a full facial.  I put it on & it totally did calm it down.

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Can you see the tears in my eyes?

& as soon as I wiped it off, it would burn again - so more on my face.

Ricky had no idea any of this was happening. He was in the back barn - & walked in to yogurt on my face & just looked at me, shrugged & walked on.

You never know what I'm up to... its just best to walk on.

Let it be known right here - I'll never touch another jalapeno as long as I live.
That's a Christmas promise right there.

We finally got it where my face didnt burn anymore - & I sat with my hands burning the rest of the night for HOURSSSSS which made for a good reminder to not touch my face again.

The night ended though on a happy note though when Beauty & the Beast was on TV.  it was like the perfect ending to Christmas Day for me.

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Ricky had said, "This isn't going to be a Christmas tradition they put on TV, is it?" ... poor guy has had to watch this movie more than any man should be allowed to watch it.  #goodsport

But the chili ended up getting done - & it wasn't even too spicy...

We ate in the living room - something we never do - sung along to the movie (OK, I sung along... Ricky just shook his head) & we gave a toast to another wonderful Christmas Day.

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What was your favorite gift to give this year for Christmas?

Have you ever been burned by a jalapeno?

Did you get to make it to church for Christmas morning?


22 comments:

  1. That chili looks delicious! I'm so glad you had a great Christmas - your church looks beautiful! And I love the gift of the entire Harry Potter collection. Those girls will love it. :)

    Ciara @ Eat Run Love

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  2. O my goodness, how eventful!

    I love how beautifully decorated your brother's house is. I love that they have 2 Christmas trees! I have 2 trees but they are in 2 different rooms.

    My favorite gift to give was definitely the lion mane to my dad. He's been wanting it for his dog for a while now and I know he's having so much fun with it!

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  3. Glad he had a good birthday and that everyone had a good Christmas. THAT PUPPY! My heart is swooning. I swear by Greek yogurt (or sour cream) on the face as the best mask. It really does cool and soothe. When I travel and I'm in dire straits, I use yogurt from the continental breakfast and it works!

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  4. glad he had a good birthday!

    i am terrified of doing that to my face (pepper face) so i usually wear rubber gloves when i'm chopping stuff like that.

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  5. Ahhh, those puppies! You guys should totally get another one. ;)

    Glad you had a great Christmas and birthday for Ricky, minus the jalapeƱos!

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  6. I've definitely gotten "peppered" before & it's the worst, and it's just a deep slow burn. When I saw the yogurt face picture though I had to laugh, because what an accurate representation of the burn.

    No Christmas church for us, we did the 11PM service Christmas Eve. I would consider going Christmas Day, except our Church does it Rite 1 for some reason, which is the super old school version using thee & thou all the time, and I just do not enjoy it.

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  7. Those puppies are so adorable! I'm not sure if I would have been able to prevent one from accidentally ending up in my purse as I walked out :) I've never played Headbandz but it looks like a lot of fun.

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  8. You look so cute with the yogurt on your face, but ouch I know. Aww the pups! So happy you had a great Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you sweet lady!!

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  9. Looks like you all had a great time! I'm a huge HeadBandz fan! I love that it's fun for both kiddos and adults!

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  10. Loving all of the holiday decor at your brother's house! The chair covers are so fun! I'm sooo sorry about the peppers, I can only imagine how bad that must have burned, but I'm glad the yogurt helped and that you guys were able to enjoy the chili later on!

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  11. OF COURSE THAT LITTLE FLUFFER-PUPS NAME IS TEDDY! <3 *all the heart-eye emojis*

    I love that y'all tipped 100%. You're so sweet :)
    Jalapeno burns are the worst... I'm so glad the burn went away- eventually!

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  12. So glad you got over the pepper burns. Love those little puppies!

    My favorite gift to give this year was all the baby gifts to baby Colton. We covered him in Disney stuff! Got to start them off right!!

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  13. Such great pictures!!!
    What fun times with family and great memories you'll have from them, love it!
    So sweet of your husband to tip 100%, probably made the waitress day!
    Oh the puppy....do they get any more cute than that, LOL

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  14. LOLOL @ you never know what I'm up to, best to just walk on.

    PUPPIES.

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  15. seriously, i've never had anyone sing or do anything embarrassing for my birthday, and KC gets it EVERY YEAR and he hates it.. i don't know if i'd hate it, but it's hilarious that it happens to KC and not me. i will have to try the broccoli next time we go to outback!
    puppies!!!!!!
    i am so sorry about your jalapeno face :( ouch.

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  16. Merry Christmas! Glad yours was filled with family, games, cookies, church, and puppies! I've never had a bad reaction to jalapeƱos like that! Though I think I flick all the seeds out with a knife and don't really touch the seeds.

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  17. We went to church Christmas Eve. I HAVE been burned by hot banana peppers when I cleaned an entire peck for the freezer, without wearing gloves. Thought my hands were on fire. Awful and I feel your pain because I know how bad it hurts. My favorite gift to give was a Walking Dear calendar to Joe and an Amazon Alexa voice-activated fire stick. I enjoyed reading about your Christmas celebrations!

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  18. Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry about your bad reaction to jalapeƱos! I'm so glad you had a wonderful Christmas and Christmas Eve besides that though. You are such a trooper for having two more Christmases to go!

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  19. THOSE PUPPIES THOUGH!!! Seriously, I'm not even a huge dog person, but those puppies are just about the cutest things known to man.

    And I'm sorry about the jalapeno incident, although it's good for me to file away in my brain that milk is good for relieving pain from it on the skin...

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  20. Wow that was almost a bad Christmas day ending. So glad you got it under control. And great to know that yogurt will help with burns. But it looks like the rest of the time was so much fun! Love all the photos.

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  21. Yay for the puppies and the girls getting the HP books. So much better than the movies. I love how Rick had almost no reaction to yogurt on your face! My husband would probably do the same thing; enough weird things happen around here.

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  22. Happy Belated Birthday to Ricky! Looks like y'all had a wonderful Christmas! Happy New Year!

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