Reindeer Crack, Meat Pies, Sloppy Joes & Rob's Birthday Celebration (Nov.29, 2025)

 I was up early this morning - had my coffee and visited with Jen for a bit before the girls got up.

I had a few things I wanted to get done today, one of the was putting together my reindeer crack.

These are some of the ingredients.

Also mini pretzels.

And I went with Corn Chex this year because I got a box on sale.

I mixed everything together in a big bowl then I thought I'd try something new this year and I spread it all out on cookie sheets.

Then when I melted the white chocolate, I started drizzling it over the mix.

Normally I just pour it into the bowl and mix it in.

The drizzling wasn't really working so I ended going back to the old way and doing it all in the big bowl but in layers and that seemed to work.

It made 6 large bags - I put one bag of it out for everyone to snack on.

It was a hit.

Everyone is coming over tonight for supper and I'm serving sloppy joe's so I prepared the mix for those.

I cooked up the hamburger and the bacon, cut up the pepperoni and Jennifer cut up the mozzarella for me.

We mixed it up and it was ready to go on the buns later today when everyone comes for supper.

Then it was onto the biggest project for today, meat pies.

I made all the dough for the crusts first.

I was having a really hard time with it.

It was crumbling and falling apart - such a struggle.

Then I moved on to getting all of the meat off the bones - Jason cooked up a turkey and a pork roast for me and it was in the freezer.

I took it out and put it all together in a pot and had it simmering for a few hours this morning then I let it cool until I could handle it.

Making sure there is no bones in it is the most important.

Then I got them put together and cooked up.

I was still working on it when everyone was arriving for supper.

I got them all put together but left the last three to cook after the sloppy joe's.

I made 8 all together - I think that will be plenty for Christmas.

I tasted a bit of one because I was concerned about the crust but it tasted good.

Morgan, Kalem and Whitney came over.

Eden and Whitney play together pretty well.

They were hugging each other and giving each other kisses.

It was super cute.

Jenny.

Rob.

It was his birthday yesterday so that's why I was having everyone over - to celebrate him!

Mom and I.

Freya insisted on taking the selfie for her and I.

Then she started taking pictures of everyone.

Mom

Moi

Morgan, Kale, Eden and Whitney.

Freya had been practicing doing handstands - Whitney was trying to do them too.

Ha ha.

Time for supper.

This is a better picture of Rob.

But then this is a better picture of Mom so I had to keep both.

Declan came and joined us for supper.

Freya made a little cake today all by herself - she added whipped cream and the candles and wanted to take it over to Rob herself.

She was very proud.

Silly face time.

Guess I was more into it than Declan was.

Silly selfie - she was back to being the photographer.

My sweetie - I love her so much.

Eden was up and going strong since about 6 am this morning so she crashed.

It was late too so I considered keeping her up so she'd sleep tonight but the poor little dear really needed a nap.

When Jason got home, he joined Jen, Declan, Rob, Freya and I for a board game.

We played Life.

Freya kicked out butts.

Then Jen and Declan headed home as did everyone else.

Eden ended up waking up from her nap.

If we'd taken her back to bed immediately she might have slept through the night but we did not and she got her second wind.

She was going, going, going.

Jason ended up going to bed and I stayed up with the girls until just after midnight.

Eden was wired at first, she was singing and talking.

But eventually she did settle down and go to sleep.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!