Christmas Chaos 2025

I love our Christmas traditions. As I get older, and after losing Bill, I tend to be more sentimental and grateful for the important people in my life. Let's face it, I'm sappy as shit anymore, and that's not the old GunDiva.

Christmas Eve used to be hosted at my Grandma Mary and Grandpa Moe's house - it was always just full-on entropy: loud, chaotic, and lovely. Grandma, Grandpa, aunts, uncles, parents, cousins, and the handful of adopted family crammed into their little house full of unconditional love. After both Grandma and Grandpa passed, my Uncle Russ started hosting. It's a bit more civilized, but that's only because the littles aren't so little anymore, with the exception of the Gremlin. The menu is pretty set, and we all contribute: potato enchiladas (Jay and me); tamales (Nebalee); beans, green chili, rice, tortillas (Uncle Russ and Aunt Marg); and assorted sides and desserts. It's my favorite meal of the year, hands down.

Many years ago, we started making our gifts to exchange, and it has become my favorite gift exchange as well, because everything is handmade with love. In the past, Jay and I have gifted food items, but most recently have been gifting crafts. This year's craft was one I learned from the Skill-A-Week program I subscribed to: homemade candles.

Jay and I made the candles, then he painted a small character on them.

Nebalee always gifts glasses of some sort, either shot glasses or margarita glasses. One year, she did brass glasses for Moscow Mules. They're always fun, and this year was no different.

Fancy glasses for the Chocolate martini she made, along with
homemade mint extract for everyone.

Dinner and drinks surrounded by people I love, and who I only get to see a couple of times a year, made my Christmas Eve special, as it does every year.

My beautiful aunt and uncle

Obligatory picture in front of the tree

Cheers!

Digger and the Gremlin wearing last year's shirts,
Digger's: The Legend, Gremlin's: The Legacy

After a few hours in the chaos, it felt good to go home and sit by the tree for just a few minutes. As much as I love and look forward to Christmas Eve every year, it drains this introvert's battery. Having a few quiet moments before jumping back into family-filled holiday fun is essential.

Christmas morning was breathtaking. No snow, in fact, it ended up being in the 60s, but it was still breathtaking.

We really do live in a postcard.

Jay and I always do our personal gift exchange first thing in the morning, sitting in bed, before the day starts. I have deep, deep love for the "good" ice, and that lovely hubby of mine got me my own "good" ice machine. I'd been dragging my feet on buying one, because our other ice machine was working just fine and I couldn't see spending the money for another one when ours was working. The beauty about gifts is that I don't have to feel guilty about replacing something :) 

Our old ice machine found a home with Ashinator and her hubby, so all is well. 

I didn't take a single picture the entire day, after taking pictures of my ice machine. I guess that means I was too busy having fun. We visited Jay's family, then Ashinator, and then headed up to the Lodge to spend time with Mom and sibs. By 8:00 o'clock, I was done for and headed up to bed, while everyone else hung out.

Normally, the Christmas festivities end Christmas night, but Nebalee bought all of us sibs and spouses entrance into Beat the Bomb in Denver, so on Friday night we ended up having a sibs' night, which was a blast! We split into two teams and competed against each other in different problem solving arcade-type games, in which we were a part of the arcade game. It's very difficult to explain, but so much freaking fun. 

Each team is competing for time to defuse the "bomb". Nebalee's team, The Shenanigators, beat our team, F-cawf. The better the team does at each game, the more time they have to diffuse the bomb. Of course, the bomb is rigged, so everyone gets doused in slime. It was very Nickelodeon, which made our Gen X hearts happy.

Potato Enchiladas

One of my family's favorite "special occasion" foods is my grandma's potato enchiladas. Truth be told, they are about as "poor man's food" as you can get, but they are delicious. A few years ago, after Grandma Mary died, I got a wild hair up my butt to make these for our Christmas Eve celebration. They were a big hit, and Jay and I have been making them every Christmas Eve since.

I tried to get to the bottom of where the recipe came from, as it seems that only my family (and friends we have introduced them to) have ever eaten them. The consensus is that it came from either Grandma Mary or her mother, Great-grandma Claudia, in trying to feed all of the mouths in the family. They are made of ingredients that were cheap and readily available. The most expensive ingredient in the dish was/is the cheese, which back then came from the "commodities people" (a.k.a. the food pantry).

However, despite the recipe being invented out of necessity, it is a family favorite and I'm glad Grandma Mary taught me how to make them. Jay and I have cleaned up the recipe a bit, to make it a touch healthier, while maintaining the same flavors as the original.

Ingredients:

• 3 dozen flour tortillas (Grandma, of course, made hers from scratch, but I'm lazy)
• 5# potatoes (we use russet, but it doesn't matter which you use)
• 1 yellow onion, diced (optional)
• 1 c. peas (we use frozen, Grandma used canned)
• shredded cheese
• garlic olive oil
• vegetable oil
• chili powder
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• salt
• pepper 

Directions:

Dice potatoes, coat with garlic olive oil, toss with salt and pepper, then spread on baking sheets and roast in a 400*F oven until cooked through, about 40 minutes.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large pan. Add roasted potatoes, peas, and chili powder paste (see below). Cook for just a couple of minutes, until peas are thawed.

Make a paste of chili powder, garlic powder, and onion powder. I have no idea of the measurements (remember, this was a recipe handed down from my Mexican grandmother, who measured things by guess and by golly), but it's about a 4:1:1 ratio of chili powder to garlic and onion powders. Add enough water to make a paste.

Dunk a tortilla into the paste, coating both sides, and quick-fry in a hot skillet with vegetable oil (Grandma used lard), drain on a paper towel-lined plate.

Fill tortillas with potato mixture, shredded cheese, and raw diced onion (if desired). Roll and place in baking dishes. Thin chili powder paste with water to use as a sauce to pour over the rolled enchiladas. Cover with shredded cheese and bake in 350*F oven for 15-20 minutes.

Look at the mess on the stove from quick-frying and cry, then begin to clean. You have just enough time to clean the mess while the enchiladas are baking.