Christmas Fun!!!
Christmas Eve was a blast. As usual, the boys, Miss E, ballistabob and myself, had our Christmas Eve dinner, and opened presents afterwards. I am thankful for another year in which we can all be all together, healthy and more or less unscathed by the events of 2011. I cannot ask for much more than that.
Miss E, was thrilled to find herself with a plethora of hats, as you can see in picture # 2. The boys were happy to be home, and I was a happy Mama with my two kids around, not to mention having a loving husband who thinks I'm the bees knees.
Dinner was an experiment this year, and it came out very well. We decided to try a "clean" menu, and see if we could make something tasty that screamed "holidays" without breaking the calorie bank. We found a recipe online for orange turkey from the Biggest Loser site that was surprisingly good (it included yummy roasted pears too!). We added some roasted root vegetables and a salad, and it was one of the tastiest meals ever.
Of course, the upside-down pinneaple cake was our downfall, but it was Christmas and we were entitled to our guilty pleasure. Besides, the guys don't care what I feed them as long as there is upside-down pinneaple cake. So there. We ate a clean meal and then we pigged out in cake. Merry Christmas!
Christmas morning saw us driving to Pennsylvania to visit my sweetie's family. We drove at the butt-crack of dawn and arrived there at around 9:30. We had all sorts of fun visiting his folks, opening presents and having lunch. At 2:30 p.m., we drove back home in order to have diner with the boys and follow our Christmas tradition of Chinese food. (Because nothing says Merry Christmas like General Tso's chicken.)
That was another adventure. For the third year in a row, I had wanted to make a reservation at the Peking Gourmet Inn, and this year I was successful on account of making the reservation 4 weeks in advance. Yet, despite of having reservations for 6:30 p.m., it was impossible to get in. There was such a huge crowd that the 6:00 p.m. bunch was just getting seated at 7:30.
At that point, we just gave up and called for delivery Chinese from our cell phone on our way home. We got our nice, hot food, 20 minutes after parking in front of the house. And much fun was had by all.
So we hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas (or Hannukah, Festivus, Kwanzaa, Mithrasmas, Saturnalia or whatever it is that you celebrate), and we'll be posting again by New Year if not before.
And now, the Christmas pictorial!
El Brato, the Dark Child, Yours Truly, and my Sweetie.
Miss E loves her hats.
Dear Santa: I want one million dollars!!!
Miss E, was thrilled to find herself with a plethora of hats, as you can see in picture # 2. The boys were happy to be home, and I was a happy Mama with my two kids around, not to mention having a loving husband who thinks I'm the bees knees.
Dinner was an experiment this year, and it came out very well. We decided to try a "clean" menu, and see if we could make something tasty that screamed "holidays" without breaking the calorie bank. We found a recipe online for orange turkey from the Biggest Loser site that was surprisingly good (it included yummy roasted pears too!). We added some roasted root vegetables and a salad, and it was one of the tastiest meals ever.
Of course, the upside-down pinneaple cake was our downfall, but it was Christmas and we were entitled to our guilty pleasure. Besides, the guys don't care what I feed them as long as there is upside-down pinneaple cake. So there. We ate a clean meal and then we pigged out in cake. Merry Christmas!
Christmas morning saw us driving to Pennsylvania to visit my sweetie's family. We drove at the butt-crack of dawn and arrived there at around 9:30. We had all sorts of fun visiting his folks, opening presents and having lunch. At 2:30 p.m., we drove back home in order to have diner with the boys and follow our Christmas tradition of Chinese food. (Because nothing says Merry Christmas like General Tso's chicken.)
That was another adventure. For the third year in a row, I had wanted to make a reservation at the Peking Gourmet Inn, and this year I was successful on account of making the reservation 4 weeks in advance. Yet, despite of having reservations for 6:30 p.m., it was impossible to get in. There was such a huge crowd that the 6:00 p.m. bunch was just getting seated at 7:30.
At that point, we just gave up and called for delivery Chinese from our cell phone on our way home. We got our nice, hot food, 20 minutes after parking in front of the house. And much fun was had by all.
So we hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas (or Hannukah, Festivus, Kwanzaa, Mithrasmas, Saturnalia or whatever it is that you celebrate), and we'll be posting again by New Year if not before.
And now, the Christmas pictorial!
El Brato, the Dark Child, Yours Truly, and my Sweetie.
Miss E loves her hats.
Dear Santa: I want one million dollars!!!