Christmas started Wednesday afternoon. I got out of work early and headed home to spend some quality time with my future sister-in-law Nicki. We baked cookies, got sushi, drank wine, and watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. (We're both HUGE Harry Potter nerds.)
We made chocolate dipped shortbread cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, and Snickerdoodles.
Triple chocolate shortbread cookies - dripped in white chocolate and then drizzled with dark chocolate and milk chocolate. Talk about yum!
Somehow, the Snickerdoodles went unphotographed.
Nicki and I enjoyed a couple pretzels before going out to get sushi and sitting down to watch HP. The goofy looks can probably be attributed to the bottle of wine we polished off.Christmas Eve
This year we added lamb to the mix. Nicki's mom and brother Jon joined us for dinner as well.
Sitting down to eat dinner.
This is one of the reasons I love Nicki. She is always a great time. Nicki! Don't play with your food!
The chaos and carnage.
My dad schooling us all in how to torch creme brulee.
My dessert plate. My mom's amazing creme brulee and a Snickerdoodle (the ones that didn't got photographed on Wednesday.) I was only able to eat about 1/4 of the creme brulee because I have a pretty low tolerance for dairy.After dinner we opened one present each and then headed off to play some Wii and entertain ourselves (or in my case nap) until it was time to go to midnight mass.
I got a double boiler. I assume my mom got this because I stole hers on Wednesday to make my cookies.
Nicki got a page-a-day, brain teaser's calendar from Alex.
Nick was really excited about his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Wii game.
A little Wii Bowling tournament. Nicki's mom kicked our butts. Beginners luck?
And a few Wii Tennis matches. Look at Nicki's mom's form!
I got a double boiler. I assume my mom got this because I stole hers on Wednesday to make my cookies.
Nicki got a page-a-day, brain teaser's calendar from Alex.
Nick was really excited about his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Wii game.
A little Wii Bowling tournament. Nicki's mom kicked our butts. Beginners luck?
And a few Wii Tennis matches. Look at Nicki's mom's form!I came home after church and Chris and I exchanged gifts before going to bed. I bought him Rockband 2 for XBox, and he got my a new computer monitor which I really needed. Mine had one foot in the grave.
Christmas MorningChristmas morning Chris and I headed over to my parent's house for presents and Christmas Day brunch which, you may remember, I was making. We got to my parent's just after 9am, and I started cooking while Chris played Wii with my brother. The menu for the day was Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip and Pumpkin Spice Stix, from Angela over at Oh She Glows. I also served a fruit tray of slice apples, pears, and grapes. All of these went really well with the dip. The main course was a breakfast casserol I made based on a recipe I found over at SparkRecipes.com. We also had mimosa's with a splash of passion fruit juice. Everything was delicious and thoroughly enjoyed by all family members.
I did have a bit of a kitchen mishap while making the casserole. You needed to bake the hashbrowns for about 10 minutes and then pressed them down into the bottom of the pan before adding the meat, veggies, and eggs. While I was pressing the hasbrowns down, I caught my wrist on the edge of the pans, and burned myself! I got it under cold running water right away, but it's a little raw and definitely stings a bit!
We opened presents while the breakfast casserole was baking. Santa was very nice to me this year. He brought me a Wii, with Wii Fit Plus and Wii Play. He also brought me some various Wii accessories. My brothers and Nicki got me a box full of Christmas kitchen/ dinner room stuff all matching the snowman placemats I currently have. I got a cookie jar, salt and pepper shakers, two placements, a couple hand towels, mugs, and a serving platter. I'm really excited about this stuff. I love snowman stuff because you can leave it out all winter long, not just during the Christmas season! Chris got some large cereal bowls (so he can stop complaining about how small ours are), a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, and a really nice Columbia fleece jacket.
Other gift highlights from the day were Nicki got a new wakeboard and bindings from my brother, my dad got a Snuggie, my mom got muffin top pans and an iPod touch, Nick got new wakeboard bindings and a new computer monitor, and Alex got a new stereo complete with a giant sub-woofer.
I did have a bit of a kitchen mishap while making the casserole. You needed to bake the hashbrowns for about 10 minutes and then pressed them down into the bottom of the pan before adding the meat, veggies, and eggs. While I was pressing the hasbrowns down, I caught my wrist on the edge of the pans, and burned myself! I got it under cold running water right away, but it's a little raw and definitely stings a bit!
We opened presents while the breakfast casserole was baking. Santa was very nice to me this year. He brought me a Wii, with Wii Fit Plus and Wii Play. He also brought me some various Wii accessories. My brothers and Nicki got me a box full of Christmas kitchen/ dinner room stuff all matching the snowman placemats I currently have. I got a cookie jar, salt and pepper shakers, two placements, a couple hand towels, mugs, and a serving platter. I'm really excited about this stuff. I love snowman stuff because you can leave it out all winter long, not just during the Christmas season! Chris got some large cereal bowls (so he can stop complaining about how small ours are), a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, and a really nice Columbia fleece jacket.
Other gift highlights from the day were Nicki got a new wakeboard and bindings from my brother, my dad got a Snuggie, my mom got muffin top pans and an iPod touch, Nick got new wakeboard bindings and a new computer monitor, and Alex got a new stereo complete with a giant sub-woofer.
Christmas Evening
After spending Christmas morning at my parent's house, Chris and I came home so I could shower and get ready (and he could play some Rockband) before we headed to his mom's house for Christmas dinner and more gifts. Dinner was all the traditional holiday dishes - turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, seven layer salad, cranberry sauce, corn casserole - and a few other dishes - polish sausage, pierogis, sweet and sour carrot salad. Desserts were even more Christmas cookies!
Santa brought Chris and me even more cool stuff. We got wine glasses, a wine chiller and electronic bottle opener, a Christmas tree serving platter, some other white serving dishes, a set of 6 Pyrex bowls, and a Chris got some clothing and other fun stuff.
Grandma got a Snuggie too. It must be the year of the Snuggie.
Nick was jealous he didn't get a Snuggie so he put his robe on backwards.
Chris and I were nearly buried alive by our (really heavy) gifts.
The post gift unwrapping chaos.
So there's my lengthy Christmas re-cap. I have so many more photos. They're all over on my Picasa site if you want to take a look.
My mom's going to be picking me up to go to yoga and the gym soon. I need to start working off some of these Christmas calories! My ringworm is nearly cleared up, and it doesn't itch when I sweat so running starts again today. I think I'm going to revise and get back on track with my 15K training plan. I abandoned that about 2 weeks in.
I also plan to get caught up on blogging. I'm going to be on a blogging roll today!
Still to come...
Santa brought Chris and me even more cool stuff. We got wine glasses, a wine chiller and electronic bottle opener, a Christmas tree serving platter, some other white serving dishes, a set of 6 Pyrex bowls, and a Chris got some clothing and other fun stuff.
Grandma got a Snuggie too. It must be the year of the Snuggie.
Nick was jealous he didn't get a Snuggie so he put his robe on backwards.
Chris and I were nearly buried alive by our (really heavy) gifts.
The post gift unwrapping chaos.So there's my lengthy Christmas re-cap. I have so many more photos. They're all over on my Picasa site if you want to take a look.
My mom's going to be picking me up to go to yoga and the gym soon. I need to start working off some of these Christmas calories! My ringworm is nearly cleared up, and it doesn't itch when I sweat so running starts again today. I think I'm going to revise and get back on track with my 15K training plan. I abandoned that about 2 weeks in.
I also plan to get caught up on blogging. I'm going to be on a blogging roll today!
Still to come...
- My brother's engagement
- My 10 in 2010
- My re-focused fitness plan
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