Our Interesting Christmas Dinner

Guess it just goes to show that anything is possible:

Wow!  What a month!  We had to do an emergency move this month, because our old apartment was raining in the living room every time it rained (which was really weird, 'cause it was a townhouse, and we couldn't find it leaking upstairs!), among many other problems, and became infested with black mold.  The management company wouldn't do anything about it, and I was becoming constantly ill.  Soooo...  we had to up and move, with barely any money, thankfully finding a landlord at a different complex who would work with us on our deposit, etc.

So...  all our money for December was gone, with the move.  We struggled to come up with money for Christmas for the kids...  I pawned my new laptop to afford some presents.  Then, someone came in and stole the most expensive ones!!!  I'm about to cry, just thinking about it.  Well, fortunately, since I have direct deposit, I was able to overdraw my checking account, to try to make it a little better for the kids.

We get into our new apartment, and have some minor problems, that I told the landlord about...  couldn't take a hot shower (you'd get about 3 min. warm water), garbage disposal didn't work, and the stove we had...  well, one small burner worked, but the rest would shoot flames at you if you dared try to turn them on!

Maintenance got out here and turned up our water heater and fixed the garbage disposal, yea!  Right?  Wrong! lol  The water heater flooded our new apartment for three days straight, before they were able to fix the problem.  Finally, on Christmas Eve, early in the morning, they brought us a stove.  We didn't have a reason to use the stove until that night...  I decided to make some blueberry muffins for the kids, so when they woke up, they could have them for breakfast, they love the crap out of those things!  Went to turn on the oven...  nothing.  NONE of the burners work.  We checked to make sure it was plugged in and all that, which it was, and the oven would get a tiny bit warm (but you could still, physically, touch the heating element.  It just, simply, did not work.

Well, it was about midnight by then, and especially with it being Christmas Eve, I didn't want to call maintenance at that time...  well, ok, I was mad enough that I did, but, luckily, James talked sense into me! lol  So, I sat the alarm, and decided to call them at seven the next morning, because we HAD to cook our Christmas dinner for the kids.  We didn't have money to go buy anything else.  I called maintenance, got voicemail and left a message.  Needless to say, we STILL haven't heard from them or gotten a stove that works...  with kids, that's not an easy thing to deal with.

BUT...  thanks to my wonderfully creative James, he cooked the turkey in our slow cooker.  We, also, fortunately, had a boneless ham, and, even heated up in the microwave, it was wonderful!  I, luckily, had bought graham cracker pie crusts (guess someone was looking out for me), so, although I couldn't make a pumpkin or pecan pie, I was able to make a delicious banana cream pie and a cherry pie, with premade filling.  Of course, we were able to do the veggies and stuff in the microwave, but I was freaking out about the mashed potatoes...  see guys, I don't believe in powdered mashed potatoes...  yuck! lol  And I can't have a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner without my mashed potatoes!

Wah-la...  thank goodness for the internet!  I found a Youtube video on how to make REAL mashed potatoes, with REAL potatoes, in the microwave!!!  The recipe called for the skin on, which tripped my youngest son out a bit, but I'll tell ya, these potatoes turned out so delicious, and they were SO easy...  I think I may just make them this way from now on!!! lol

So anyway, our Christmas Dinner was saved.  The boys had a friend over, and we all had a wonderful feast...  which I am so thankful for, especially after the month we have had!  We sat together, as a family, which is so important to me, remembering the true meaning of Christmas, and being so thankful for my family, who has been so accepting and loving, even though our pile of presents was pretty bare this year.  It was a wonderful day!