I really enjoyed myself at the Nutcracker. DH tolerated it. 
Afterwards we ate at a Chinese place with a grill. I was able to fill up on grilled veggies and tofu.
I updated our budget and realized we only had $50 left in the grocery budget! I knew DH still needed to buy his turkey and the stuff for the rum cakes. That was $28. So I tried to buy as little as possible and make do with what I had on hand.
As I was making the tater tot casserole yesterday I realized I was out of veg stock, and only had one can of green beans. So I subbed green peas .... I've got a whole casserole to eat for myself (other than the piece DH ate.) Oh well.
I got my $50 Walmart card from Koinme, so I can use some of that for groceries without it affecting the budget.
I plan on adding a category for next year for Holiday spending - the extra spent for Thanksgiving day food, Christmas day food, multiple Christmas cards, stamps, and I did buy a gift card for my mom ... Need a separate category for this.
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DH gave me a spice rack for Christmas! It is beautiful - made of solid oak. He's going to stain it to match our cupboards and hang it on the wall. I'll take a picture of it once he's done that and I've filled it with my spices.
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DH has been pretty okay with us not having cable. But there are a few times where I know he's really missing it. This coming Monday (NYD) with the Florida bowl game (Scott Frost) he's really missing it.
So ... I finagled our household general budget a bit (i.e. borrowed from some more flush categories) and bought a set top converter box and antenna for his huge analog tv monstrosity that sits in our living room. Hopefully that setup will pull in whatever channel the game is on.
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We woke up Sunday morning to 4 inches of snow! It was so beautiful.
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DH went with me to the Christmas Eve service at my church 
and then we went Christmas light looking. We ended with my favorite one - the place I call the "Alley Place."
Afterwards DH made his rum cakes. 1 for us (mainly him - I had two bites of it.) 1 for the partner and sister of his sister, and 1 for his long time friend.
We however were out of good paper plates. I did NOT want to use any of my real plates (did that last year for the one we gave his sister, and only got it back after her memorial service ...) So ... I ended up driving our Honda CRV for the very first time.
I don't like driving vehicles that are high up off the ground, but this wasn't too bad - other than backing up ...
I still haven't driven our pickup truck. (And won't for awhile now since the insurance for that is now covering the CRV - until winter is over.)
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I'll be taking Kari (cat) to the vet again tomorrow for a recheck. Hoping it won't be another $168. I'm pretty sure she's over the UTI though.
It would be nice to not have any activity in our pet fund (other than food/litter) for at least 6 or 7 months so we can actually rebuild our funds to a reasonable level!
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Well, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas all!
Nutcracker, Snow, Merry Christmas!
December 25th, 2017 at 06:39 pm
December 25th, 2017 at 08:46 pm 1514234815
December 25th, 2017 at 10:14 pm 1514240076
December 26th, 2017 at 03:34 pm 1514302444
December 26th, 2017 at 11:40 pm 1514331636
December 27th, 2017 at 02:37 am 1514342228
Ceejay - last year we managed to stay in budget, but this year DH wanted to do a bit more ... stuff not budgeted for which had to come from somewhere. So yep, it'll be in the budget next year!
Too funny Bluebird! I'm glad my DH didn't fall asleep.
December 27th, 2017 at 08:23 pm 1514406195
December 29th, 2017 at 12:29 am 1514507394
December 30th, 2017 at 03:30 am 1514604643
Me too Rob.