{"id":2499,"date":"2012-12-28T20:33:04","date_gmt":"2012-12-29T01:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?p=2499"},"modified":"2012-12-28T20:33:04","modified_gmt":"2012-12-29T01:33:04","slug":"christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?p=2499","title":{"rendered":"Christmas!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>First, let&#8217;s get this shitty picture of the Holland Christmas tree (the opportunities for getting pictures of it with all of the light strands working were very limited) out of the way:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2508\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2508\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2508\" alt=\"Holland\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1571-225x300.jpg\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1571-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1571-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Also, here&#8217;s my cat being supercute:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2509\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2509\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2509\" alt=\"Christmas Supercat\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1573-225x300.jpg\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1573-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1573-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I worked Sunday night, and after a nap Monday afternoon, we headed to Tiffin for Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n<p>We went straight to Jim and Beth&#8217;s house for tasty Christmas Eve dinner and some Swiss Family Robinson watching.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a picture of a bunch of Links watching the movie together:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2510\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2510\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2510\" alt=\"Links on a couch\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1576-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1576-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1576-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After a suitable amount of obligatory (though mostly enjoyable) family time, we went back to Randy and Lis&#8217;s house, where Brian and I watched Hangover 2 On Demand! and then spent the least comfortable night EVER on the old air mattress&#8230;we&#8217;ve slept on it a ton of times, and while it&#8217;s never been quite like a real bed, it&#8217;s never been as keep-you-awake terrible as it was that night. I don&#8217;t know what the\/our problem was. I had only slept, like, 3 hours on Christmas Eve day, so I REALLY wanted to sleep, and it just was not happening.<\/p>\n<p>We get up early on Christmas day to open presents and have breakfast with Brian&#8217;s parents. Here&#8217;s Randy looking at the photo book of us that we gave them because we give terrible, self-centered gifts:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2500\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2500\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2500\" alt=\"Rando and the book\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0934-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0934-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0934-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here is Randy and Lis&#8217;s Christmas tree&#8230;it is cute, for a sad, dead tree:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2501\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2501\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2501\" alt=\"Link Tree\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0935-225x300.jpg\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0935-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0935-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I got a spice rack (with free spice refills for 5 years!) and some other stuff, including a calendar that featured these gems:<\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2514\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2514\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2514\" alt=\"Hate Everything\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1582-225x300.jpg\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1582-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1582-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2515\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2515\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2515\" alt=\"Parental Disappointment\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1583-225x300.jpg\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1583-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1583-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>We taught Lis about Grumpy Cat:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2513\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2513\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2513\" alt=\"Grumpy Cat\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1581-300x300.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1581-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1581-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1581.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After a tasty breakfast, we headed back to our house. Here&#8217;s our couple photo for this Christmas (shoutout: Australia):<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2502\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2502\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2502\" alt=\"Christmas Couple\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0936-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0936-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0936-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We exchanged presents, and I was embarrassingly out-Christmassed.<\/p>\n<p>My Dad brought his mostly thawed turkey over for some on-the-fly spatchcockery and thrown-together meal preparation. We had no gravy, and some things that I like to make from scratch (cranberry sauce) were store-bought, but it came together quite nicely&#8230;I didn&#8217;t think the turkey was much smaller than last time, but we may have even overcooked it doing only 80 minutes. Spatchcocking is CRAZY.<\/p>\n<p>Matthew and Amanda came over to hang out for a while and exchange presents. Here&#8217;s Amanda watching a video (http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dr_cn66sYc8 &#8211; watch it, you won&#8217;t regret it) \u00c2\u00a0about the four-headed arm-like penis of the Australian echidna:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2503\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2503\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2503\" alt=\"Echidna Dick\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0937-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0937-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0937-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Other Christmas photos:<\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2504\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2504\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2504\" alt=\"Brian &amp; Mattie\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0939-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0939-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0939-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2505\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2505\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2505\" alt=\"Dad\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0941-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0941-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0941-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Matthew and Amanda brought me this book that they found on their trip to California:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2512\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2512\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2512\" alt=\"KNIT YOUR OWN CAT\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1579-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1579-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1579-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>(I do not think I know enough\/am a good enough knitter to make a cat.)<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a braggy photo of some of my presents I got&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2507\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2507\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2507\" alt=\"LOOT\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0943-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0943-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0943-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Yes, I did get some books about travelling to Australia and a rechargeable hand warmer. \u00c2\u00a0And! a special therapy light for people who are SAD!!1! \u00c2\u00a0I have used it twice, but I&#8217;m already knee-deep in a run of terrible scheduleness, and I&#8217;m not expecting MIRACLES. \u00c2\u00a0Maybe once I get out of fluctuating scheduleness after New Year&#8217;s Day, my life will improve drastically.<\/p>\n<p>We all got each other UT stuff this year&#8230;we&#8217;re going to need a new hobby for next year:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2506\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2506\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2506\" alt=\"UT LOOT\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0942-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0942-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_0942-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>My most anticipated present from this Christmas (TOLEDO EL GNOMO!):<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?attachment_id=2511\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2511\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2511\" alt=\"Toledo El Gnomo\" src=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1578-768x1024.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1578-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/IMG_1578-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>My peoples were supposed to be around this week so that I could see them and their spawn and whatnot. \u00c2\u00a0Early this week, the forecast was calling for 8-12 inches of snow on Wednesday, so everybody either fled NWOhio early or postponed their trips. \u00c2\u00a0It was very reminiscent of the great Groundhog Day Snowmageddon (that cancelled Dara&#8217;s and my plans to go to Punx) because we got a fraction of the snow they had forecast. We ended up not getting enough snow to fully cover the grass&#8230;THANKS, BABY JEBUS FOR RUINING ALL THE FRIEND CHRISTMAS. (Also thanks, work schedule, for making me feel so miserable this week so that even if people had been around, I most likely would have preferred to lay here and do logic problems like the gross sloth I am). \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Whatever, the New Year will be better, I said for the 20th consecutive year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First, let&#8217;s get this shitty picture of the Holland Christmas tree (the opportunities for getting pictures of it with all of the light strands working were very limited) out of the way: Also, here&#8217;s my cat being supercute: I worked &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/?p=2499\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,10,31,15,8,29,9,37,13,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baby-jesus-spites-me","category-cats-and-more-cats","category-christmas","category-delicious-meals-and-food","category-domesticity","category-family-time","category-friends","category-honeybear","category-lame-work","category-parentals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theshellybeach.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}