Our Christmas

Sugarwings and her mommy spent the night with us on Christmas Eve, so we had her here when she woke up to find what Santa had brought to her.

And to check and see if he'd found the cookies she'd made for him the day before. (Yes, and speaking for the jolly, old guy, I have to say, they were YUMMY!)

We do our family party on Christmas Eve.  It's a day of hanging out, baking, dinner, and then opening gifts together.

Mid-afternoon, we realized that we had no cookies to leave out that night! Oh my! So, we all chipped in to mix, roll, cut, bake and decorate a giant batch of sugar cookies and a small batch of gluten/dairy free ones too.

I discovered that almond meal is perfect for dusting the table to roll out the gluten free ones.  I'm not a fan of most of the flours used in that kind of baking, and if you dust with them, the cookies aren't very good. Almond flour was ideal, plus it gave a nutty flavor to the goodies.

Making cookies at the last minute set us behind a little on our dinner.  So, the prime rib got into the oven a bit late, then just would NOT cook.  It was taking forever,  we started in on gifts and decided to open a few before we ate.

So we had some back and forth, checking on dinner and opening pressies.  Till we realized that the hunk of meat was going to be in the oven way, way too late, and we might still be waiting to eat, with Santa sitting up on the roof waiting for us to get tucked in so he could come on down. 

We went into high gear, slicing up the giant slab of prime rib, and turned it into rib eye steaks, while my husband fired up the grill (in the dark, on a 30 degree night).  

I was glad he did because, man, were those good, and grilled to perfection!

My son sauteed a few pounds of mushrooms with eggplant and golden beets, and I'd baked a layered red beet, asparagus, and rainbow carrot casserole.  Along with that, we had smashed potatoes with garlic aoli sauce and panko crumbs.  Plus fresh, homemade rolls, and canned green beans from Aunt Jenny's garden.

No one minded waiting, it was delicious, and a big group effort.

And soon, we were right back into the fray.  Leftovers were popped in the fridge, the table was cleared, and dishes were piled up to do later, getting those packages open was much more important.

We like to open one gift at a time, with everyone getting to watch and enjoy seeing what the other person got. That way, there is time for modelling and admiring the presents too.

And plenty of time for hugs and thank yous.

We are all about the hugs around here.

 See what I mean?

I hope there was lots of love in your day too.

For the rest of the week, my husband and I are loading up these two fairies and driving south till we find some sunshine. It's an impromptu trip and who knows what we will find on our "maventure" as Dewdrop calls it.

Our adventures have been nonstop for the holiday, and it is very exciting that they are still ongoing.

Last week, we saw "Mary Poppins" at the local theater the same day that we attended a "Santa Splash" at the indoor aquatic center. Along with all of the other parties and plans, it has been one fun event after another for about a month of Christmassing.  A little vacation is just what I need to rest up from all of the celebrating that I've been whooping it up with  since Thanksgiving.

 Between being on the go all of the time with holiday happenings, buying and wrapping gifts, shipping packages like crazy (by the way, thank you for all the shopping at my Boutique and Etsy store!!), being sick for months, (I'm finally done coughing, it was a Christmas miracle), redoing the bedroom (pictures to come of the new look) and everyday life, the beach is sounding pretty good right now. I hear it will be too chilly to swim in the Gulf, but I'm happy with playing in the sand.

There are new pre-posted blogs upcoming, so please do check back.  And have a great new year!