Are you ready for the longest post ever? Actually, it's not that long and I'll go easy on the text.

Our Christmas was fantastic. My grandparents hosted dinner on Sunday. Everyone but Dylan was there. It was awesome. As we all (we meaning my cousins) grow older it becomes more difficult to get everyone in the same room but we managed to get it done this year - sans Dylan.

Tom has much better photos from that evening but these will do. After a delicious feast of prime rib, we opened gifts. The littler kids still get a handful of gifts to open. The older kids get a a big'ol wad of cash and this year my grandmother also bought fingerless gloves for all the boys and toe socks for all the girls. It was pretty silly.

 

Not pictured are the photo calendars I made for each of my grandparents. I used pictures of all their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They make memorable gifts - in my opinion - but if only I could remember the actual year my grandparents got married because this lapse in memory totally botched my thoughtful gift. The cover of the calendar reads: The Straubhars, est. 1953. Except that's not the year they got married - it was 1956!!!!!

I am now 0 for 2 when it comes to giving gifts with the est. date. Last year I made a print for my parents that read: The Mikesells, est. 1979. Except that's the year I was born not the year they were married! Pointless story, but worth telling on the off chance that someone finds my inability to count or remember dates entertaining.

We spent Christmas Eve with my parents and Jack. My grandparents stopped by for a bit as well on their way to a crab cook at my aunt and uncle's house. Stephen and Jack did a splendid job preparing rack of lamb and mussels - there is actually a disproportionate amount of food pictures from that evening. But we all know that if I love anything in this world it's a big'ol chunk of meat.

 

After my grandparents snuck out we opened gifts. Tom came away with the biggest haul - Dana got him a new bike! I also think Tom and Dana were pleased with the homemade yet thoughtful and quality gifts we crafted for them. We had a good bit of fun opening gifts and chatting before everyone left around 8:30 pm.



Even though the boys got to bed by 9 pm they still slept in. I don't think we were up and out of bed before 8 am. It didn't help that Henry had a cold (maybe even the flu). Wyatt was up for nearly 45 minutes before we decided to wake Henry.

Opening gifts didn't take very long since we were adhering the read, want, need, wear trend. You know how I hate anything matchy-matchy but when it comes to gifts, we keep it pretty even. The boys each got a new bike from Santa. This was their need gift. I didn't snap a picture but these bikes are legit. And they'd better last a long time because Santa paid a lot of money for them!

To read they each got three Easy-Reader books from National Geographic. To wear, I sewed them each two pairs of pajama bottoms and made graphic tees with their personal spirit animals, a squirrel and a bald eagle respectively. As always, I was super pleased with my ability to be crafty and I was equally as pleased that the boys are still young enough to think my creations are cool. Also, I already had all the materials I needed for the wear gifts save two bottles of fabric paint costing about a buck fifty total!

Henry and Wyatt had to share their want gift, which I suppose is one of the burdens of being a twin. They have had to endure their fair share of shared gifts over the years and I imagine the sharing will only continue. Anyway, we gave them this crappy plastic Bey Blade dome thing that they've literally played with three times because it doesn't work well. But I was expecting this. It's the reason we only bought one!



Stephen and I don't exchange gifts but I wrapped up a pair of lounge pants he knew I was making for him - he selected the pattern and the print. We were both super pleased with the final product. Me because I made the pattern from scratch and the pants fit! Stephen because the pants are just his kind of hideous plus they're cozy!



Between opening gifts and hosting brunch with the Crumrines, we made a quick Skype call to Dylan who was enjoying Christmas in France with a buddy. Then we started pulling together yet another delicious holiday meal. But don't worry, we took a break to open gifts with Glenn, Stephanie, and Tia-D.

The boys scored some fun gifts, this Foosball table being one of them. Again, I think our homemade gifts went over well, although for a brief moment Diana thought we bought her pancake mix from Trader Joe's. Luckily for her I'd just run out of regular gift boxes.



PS. You can catch a glimpse of one of those awesome new bikes in the picture above. It also substitutes as a coat rack.

In addition to our homemade gifts, I gave Stephanie framed family photos taken by the photographer at Wes and Melissa's wedding in June. They were so amazing that Glenn and Tia-D felt compelled to ooh and aah over them!



And then it was time to eat! Stephen made a scrum diddly umptious crab souffle and Tia-D brought fresh fruit and scones. We also had scrapple - a classic Crumrine traditional Christmas brunch staple. If you don't know what scrapple is, you should really click that link. I will tell you that scrapple is some hella good shit and I look forward to the one morning a year that scrapple is placed on the table!

 

After brunch we high-tailed it out of there and headed up to Condo Town for a five-night stay in our snowy little haven - another post. Although don't hold your breath, I am way behind in my story telling!

Also, I lied. This post was heavy on the text. I guess I just had a lot to say after weeks of silence.

Hope you all had a nice holiday and are enjoying the New Year!

Thanksgiving Day started at 9:00 am for me. I leisurely rolled out of bed, drank some coffee and stayed in my pajamas until 1 in the afternoon! I didn't bake anything. I didn't prep anything. Nope. I didn't do a thing and let me tell you, it was awesome!

We did do a family craft project (printable project found here @ mer mag). We made headbands and then wore them all day. It was a nice way to spend the morning. I am thankful for those guys.



I also managed to squeeze in a quick craft project the night before Thanksgiving. I don't know what came over me, but on Wednesday afternoon I had an overwhelming urge to make things. It probably had something to do with not hosting or helping prepare for Thanksgiving in any way. So I made the boys turkey shirts late Wednesday night and forced them wear the shirts all day on Thursday.

Very often my craft projects turn out less than stellar, especially ideas that come to me on the fly. But I thought the shirts were a great success, although Wyatt and Henry might have felt differently. Wyatt hinted that he would only wear his shirt to Tia-D's house but not later in the evening when he would be seeing his cousins. Henry insisted that the turkey more closely resembled a peacock and was initially unsure as to why I made peacock shirts for Thanksgiving. Whatever. They don't know.

 

After everyone was properly dressed, we headed over to Tia-D's house for a Thanksgiving feast!



While we were waiting for all the fixins' to be ready, Stephen serenaded us with his version of the ever (and I mean ever) popular Wagon Wheel. Isn't he special!?


After dinner we took some family photos. They may or may not be a Christmas card photo material. The jury is still out.

 

We rounded out the evening with a game of Apples to Apples. Stephen won. And then we all headed out to share dessert with the other sides of our families. Stephen and I ended up at my aunt and uncle's house with the boys, my parents, and all my cousins. It was a lovely end to a great day filled with lots of family and food - just the way it should be.

Day 4 started early. Either 5:30 or 6:30 am. Doesn't matter. It was early and it was still dark and we were headed to Corsica via a massive ferry - which happened to be very awesome. I think it might have been the largest ferry I've ever had the pleasure of boarding. It was also the longest ferry ride I've ever had the pleasure of....not sure what to write there.

Anyway, the ferry ride was nearly five and a half hours long. So we took a lot of pictures on the deck. I would like to point out that the deck was windy, which is why I have my skirt awkwardly tied between my legs in some photos. After the first time my skirt flew over my head I decided this tied up option was much better than frequent yet unpredictable flashes of my big white ass.

Because we took so many pictures over the course of our five and a half hour voyage, I put together another nifty little video to highlight some of the most memorable moments. And I synced the video to an incredibly offensive song. I hope you like it!



Our ferry ride landed us in Isula Rossa. From there we drove a few hours to Calvi, where we camped for the night. We arrived close to 3 pm and lunched at an over-priced tourist trap along the beach. It was a perfectly lovely lunch except for the pigeons. I hate pigeons. I despise them. They are revolting. They land on tables looking for crumbs and eat trash. Yuck!

After lunch we toured the Citadel, which was pretty cool. It was old and all that. And apparently Christoper Columbus hails from Calvi and we all love that guy.



After our walking tour, we slapped on our hiking gear - which meant we traded our flip flops for sneakers and Dylan put on a Man-tank - and, obviously, we took a hike! It was about a 45 minute walk (maybe an hour) to the Chapel of Notre Dame de la Serra. Once we reached the chapel, we took in the amazing view and to get a better look we climbed up a big rock formation. It was pretty cool.

Speaking of hiking, I was cautioned by both Tom and Stephen not to keep up with my brothers. I feel like their warnings could have been interpreted in one of two ways:

1. I think Stephen meant don't try and drink as much as your brothers, it will end poorly. But that was kind of a silly warning because we never drank too much. Never. Prudes.
2. I think Tom meant don't do stupid shit like jump into the sea or scale cliffs. That was also kind of silly advice because we all know that I am a wimp. If it's against the rules or the least bit risky, I am out. 

However, I did do some slightly (and I mean slightly) stupid shit when it came to keeping up with Jack and Dylan on the hike. But it ended well and I didn't suffer any injuries. And I felt like a badass, even if my risky feats were small potatoes compared to stunts my brothers pull on a daily basis.

 

So camping on Corsica was amazing. We stayed at two different camps sites, both next to the beach. Dylan borrowed a two-man tent that was stored in a round shell. When you unzipped the shell, the tent just popped out and was all set to go! I want one. Dylan needs to bring me one - he's been told.

Because the tent could not comfortably hold three people, Dylan slept outside. He was sport about the whole thing but he slept like crap and woke up dew dampened with bug bites after each night. Jack and I, on the other hand, slept quite comfortably and I woke up refreshed each morning.

Also, Jack washed all of his clothes the night we arrived in Antibes. We were literally in Antibes for 10 hours, if that, and there is no dryer in Dylan's flat. I am sure you understand that this meant Jack was then traveling with damp clothes for the next...um...say three days! Washing his clothes was both an incredibly silly move and annoying to me, although I don't think I voiced that to Jack until now. Jack - riding in the backseat with your wet, musty clothes annoyed me at times, just so you know. But it made for a good picture!



During the ferry ride I noticed that my camera battery was low so I am short on pictures from the camp sites. We spent about 60 minutes on the beach that first night and I don't have pictures of that either. But that's mainly because I was worried about getting sand in my camera. We were in the Mediterranean for about five days and only spent three hours on the beach - but I'll get to that.

That evening we dinned at a rather posh place. The other day Dylan reminded me that I totally threw a fit about our table and gave a nice looking family of four the stink eye until the server - per my request - removed them from MY table on the balcony. I don't feel bad about it, though. Here's why: if the table sitting rules have to apply to me then they have to apply to you regardless of the fact that you have hungry tween daughters!

We possibly had our best meal that night. I ordered a mushroom pasta with foie gras. I like the idea of food that is offensive to others, especially to people who like animals. Dylan ordered some sort of stuffed pasta dish. He had his choice between wild boar and black bird. He thinks he ordered the boar but it was all in French and the meat looked stringy to me, like a small bird might look stringy. Jack ordered some seafood melody of a dish. He took a picture. The shrimp still had their heads on - you can see their little black eyes!



This has nothing to do with anything but I would like to bring to your attention to the fact that from here on out I look like crap. The first time I traveled through Europe I looked like ass. For the sake of convenience, I stopped plucking my eyebrows and shaving my legs. I packed one granny dress and two pairs of pants. That was mistake. Stephen and I mainly visited large metropolitan areas where people were dressed to the nines. I constantly felt under-dressed and shabby, especially when I had to met and later spend time with that tall Irish ex-girlfriend we all know I love to bitch about.

Anyway, I hoped you noticed that I looked super cute in Paris. But after that, I stopped washing my hair and wore the same outfit for days on end. That's how I like to roll on road trips and since we were now traveling by car, we were officially road tripping.