Thinking About Next Christmas

We all pretty much agreed that it was more relaxing celebrating on Christmas Day this year. As much as the holidays are great, they can be exhausting! And I have to admit, it feels good to get back into the usual routine of life. The food turned out well. We had wild rice soup and appetizers, and this year I tried to plan things so that  only a couple had to be heated up in the oven. MUCH better than last year. Here is the menu ...

• Creamy Wild Rice Soup (Maggie and Mary's)
• Veggie Pizza  (Papa Murphy's)
• Meatballs, with Grape Jelly and Chili Sauce
• BBQ Little Smokies
• Herring and Crackers
• Shrimp Cocktail
• Cheese Ball and Salami with Crackers
• Cowboy Salsa with Tortilla Chips
• Hummus and Pita Chips
• Vegan for Katie (Trader Joe's Roasted Veggie Pizza and Vegetable Pakora)
• Hot Apple Cider
• Mudpie and Black Jack Cherry Ice Cream Pies 
• Cherry Pie Jello  

(I'm thinking we might ditch the hummus and salami next year as we had a ton of food, and those were hardly touched.)

Tristin has been laying in the tree, and branches are breaking. It's sad.

But, Jake and I also made a trip to Menard's yesterday, and shopped their sales. We picked up a new tree for next year and some LED lights, all 40% off. Hopefully Tristin will settle down and not wreck this one!