Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas Eve

Okay, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day each get their own post, because this was my first Christmas at our own home with our children, and I was bound and determined to make it special, or at least memorable. Initially, I admit that I had reserved this holiday for just our little family (meaning, I didn't invite anyone), because I didn't want to even risk that anything should, shall I say, take away from the Christmas spirit. As the event approached rapidly, I felt inspired to invite my family, even though they don't normally celebrate Christmas. So, with two hours to spare before dinner, I made the calls. Everyone made it, and it actually turned out to be really fun. And by "actually," I mean, I'm happy that it did. I made a ton of food, so even with all the unplanned guests, we'll still be eating leftovers for days. The menu consisted of a Christmas turkey, garlic leek bread pudding, twice baked potatoes, green beans with shallots, crescent rolls, and pazookie for dessert.
After everyone left, Jake and I exchanged our gifts into the wee hours. We planned to do our exchange on Christmas Eve so as to not take away from the kids' time in the morning. Jake spoiled me as always, with gift cards to my favorite stores, a pressure cooker and pressure cooker cookbook (I asked for this), a storage ottoman to hide baby toys, and some silk, um... pajamas. Jake got a pull-up bar to go with our P90X workout series (which our nanny, Brooke, downloaded for us!), a Breadman breadmaker (he asked for this), and a breadmaker recipe book. We can't wait to start working out and cooking -- hey, they go hand-in-hand.

1 comment:

The Rich Family said...

My father in-law gave me a pressure cooker about a year ago and I still have never used it. You will have to teach me a few things once you have learned how. And is your husband really going to make bread? That is so neat!:)