Christmas Thrifting

"It is not last season, it is archival. It is not secondhand, it is sustainable. It is not outfit repeating, it is style consistency." —Janna Cachola

I dropped my husband off at work and instead of going straight home, I stopped by the Goodwill by his job.  I was hoping to find a Christmas Village item, and there were some, but they looked ugly to me, so I just kept looking around.  I aaw this baker Santa Claus, and I decided to research it.  It seems to be a vintage Kurt Adler fabric maché piece, that sells on eBay for $100!  I got it for $5.

I kept looking around and found the Rudolph booties with reindeer pompons on the backs, still with tag, for $1.99.

The book I picked up is called, "The Frozen Pond" by Ariel Lawhon.  It has no creases in the spine and the cover was taught, so I assume it has never been read by whomever donated it.  I also got that for 99¢.

Belated Christmas

“Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ” ― Mary Ellen Chase

My niece Anna, her fiance DeAndre, and my great niece Lailah came up to Orange County for a cheerleading event.  You know Uncle Trevor couldn't leave out our nieces (or Dre) for the holidays.  When I was at work, he went Christmas shopping. 

When I got home, I had to wrap presents.  I have an amazing husband.  He's so very thoughtful.  It's like Christmas all year round, sometimes.

We went to Lailah's cheer performance at Edison High School in Huntington Beach (that's not her school).  And then we met up with them for some Hawaiian BBQ at Maui Barbecue in Westminster.  Anna was the one who suggested it, because we had Maui BBQ the last time she came up and she loves it.

Anna and Uncle Trevor (and Dre)

Lailah and Uncle Trevor

Anna and Aunt Jeri

Me and Dre

Trevor and Dre

Me and Anna

Me and Lailah

Lailah and Aunt Jeri

Lailah LOVED her present

Anna and Dre got a gift too

Christmas 2025

“Christmas is like candy; it slowly melts in your mouth sweetening every taste bud, making you wish it could last forever.” – Richelle E. Goodrich. 

All in attendance:
Me, Trevor, Jeri, Geoffrey, Mom, Kalib, Christopher, Gemal, Jose, Brenda, and Shawn.

Geoffrey was our first guest.  He got here about 3:00pm.  Kalib and Chris came in about 3:15pm.  Gemal, Jose, Brenda and Shawn got here about 3:30pm.  Jose, Brenda and Shawn had to get back home soon because they have Christmas with their family, but we had Christmas gifts for our godson Shawn.  He got all kinds of Bluey items, this year, as that is his new obsession.  Plus, my son's got to meet my godson for the first time.  Shawn, who is normally very outgoing, was very shy.  He was the only child in the room and we all had eyes on him.  So, he opened his gifts, and Jose and Brenda opened theirs, and they left.

For Christmas dinner, we had prime rib, 2 huli-huli game hens, mashed potatoes, candied yams, deviled eggs, Portuguese sausage bean soup, Hawaiian sweet rolls, cranberry sauce, and peas and carrots.  I'm a little old school, I do miss having macaroni and cheese, turkey and ham, and all the Thanksgiving fixin's for Christmas.  Some years ago, my sister began making prime rib for Christmas dinner, which I am not fond of for two reasons.  The first reason is I don't really care for steak-meat.  The second reason is I have a disorder called dysphagia that I have been suffering from for about 12 years now, which makes it difficult to swallow food.  For me, certain meats like steak meat, chicken breast, and pork chops are choking hazards.  So, I do not eat them.  The cornish game hens, cooked huli-huli style by my husband was delicious and soft.  I love chicken skin, but the game hen skin was a bit too tough for me.  

We had a Where's Waldo? ornament this year, that Trevor bought from Walmart.  We decided on a new tradition of hiding Waldo for Christmas every year.  The first to make a comment about Waldo will win a prize.  This year, Gemal spotted Waldo in the tree.  She won a mug and cocoa set.  Later, my son Kalib told me he saw the Waldo way before Gemal mentioned it but he didn't say anything.  I gave him a prize, too, of Guava cookies.

The prank gift this year, was Trevor decided to take the first layer of chocolate cookies out of a gift box, and refill it with Marlboro cigarettes.  Then, he replaced the second layer of chocolate cookies over the cigarettes.  He wrapped the first layer of cookies separately, and then wrapped the cigarette/cookie box, too.  I thought cigarettes was such a tacky gift, but he pointed out, "Hey, it's expensive!"  It is an expensive gift, but geez...cancer sticks?  That was his revenge for Jeri wrapping a package of socks individually the year before, and hiding it as tree garland, and making Trevor unwrap 24 individual socks.

Gifts were simple this year, and I think everyone was happy with what they received.  Mom was so elated for her Christmas socks, she made the cutest gesture by, joyfully, clapping her hands.  She has lost most of her ability to communicate in English.

Shawn was so excited for his Bluey Legos

Shawn and his Bluey Activity kit

Shawn and his Bluey Christmas ornament

Brenda and Shawn

Me, Trevor and our godson Shawn

Trevor's present

Jeri finally got her prank present open

Kalib's magnifying screen from Aunt Jeri

Geoffrey with his robe and slipper from me and Trevor

Gemal's Philosophy bath gels from Jeri

A sweet treat for Chris from Mom and Trevor

Old Navy PJs for Kalib from Mom and Trevor

Earbuds for Geoffrey from Jeri

PJ pants for Chris from Mom and Trevor

A lumberjack shirt for Trevor from Jeri

The Perfect Man for Gemal (she's had bad luck with men, lately)

A sweet treat for Kalib from Mom and Trevor

A magnifying screen for Trevor from Jeri

A magnifying screen for Chris from Aunt Jeri

A magnifying mirror for Jeri from me and Trevor

Gemal got everyone a bouquet of flowers

Danish cookies from Gemal

3 generations, Chris, Kalib, Me and my Mom

Chris and Grandma

Kalib and Grandma

Me and my sons

Chris and Aunt Jeri

Kalib and aunt Jeri

Gemal and Me

Gemal and Jeri

Angry Housewife Christmas Picture

 

I am following a trend that has hit social media in the Christmas Groups I am on.  This is the Angry Housewife Christmas trend.  

I actually went to a thrift store and found a dress that reminded me of colors from earlier in the 1900s (the century I was born), and look for something that looked somewhat modest.  I put on my dress shoes, and wore an ugly beaded Coco Chanel necklace (turning the logo around to the back of me, so it wouldn't be seen in the photo).  

I grabbed a dirty ashtray and my husband's blunt and he took my picture.  It seems women back in those days had short hair.  I have extremely long hair, so I had to put my hair into a puffy bun in order to give it some volume.  This was so fun to do.  I typically have a mean-looking resting face, so all I had to do was not smile.  

I used a filter to give the photos a vintage look, something off-colored, because the camera quality in the mid-century was not very good compared to today.

Here it is.  I may do this very year!

Pose 1

Pose 2

Christmas Cookies

“Peace means no one is worried about anyone else's cookie...in this moment we are all quietly content with the cookies we have.” ― Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Christmas Cookies: Bite-Size Holiday Lessons

I made all kinds of cookies for Christmas:  Peanut Butter Blossom pawprint cookies, Iced sugar cookies, and Nun's farts.  I never used to do this with my children when they were little because I didn't have the equipment or sometimes, the space.  I wish I had.  

This was my first time icing cookies, and it became tedious after the first 5 cookies.  I had to split the decorating into two days.  I don't think I will ever do cookie icing again, unless I have little hands to help, such as grandchildren, great-nieces/nephews, or my godson.  Otherwise, I'm good with just popping regular dough into the oven and eating them as-is!  The lazier I got, the less icing was used.  I began painting white icing over some of the cookies in order to just dip them into sugar and cinnamon for color.  And some of my cookies got more and more inappropriate, but I'm sure the adults will have a hoot about it.  

Despite not being grounded enough to get patient and content with cookie decorating, my cookies and Nun's farts came out great.

Nun's Farts

Nudist Cookie

Almost done with cookie decorating

Farmer Tan 

The last of the cookies I decorated.  At this point I was so over it.