Christmas 2018

We had a good Christmas this year despite the fact that we changed things up a bit.

We drew names for Secret Santa, and people only needed to buy one gift. It felt a little weird in the days leading up to Christmas, but in the end everyone agreed that it made things much less stressful. Katie and I happened to receive the same stuffed ostrich! I guess we like similar things. And, it was so funny to see the look on her face when she realized what had just happened.

We had appetizers on Christmas Eve, which pretty much has become a tradition in this house, and then I decided to add some calico beans and baked macaroni and cheese. The mac and cheese was an experimental recipe, one that you put together the night before, using uncooked noodles. It caused me some stress, wondering how people would like it, and then I tried to tell myself that I wouldn't obsess over it if the recipe didn't turn out. And then it actually turned out so well, that I think I'll double the recipe for next year!

Why do we worry about such things? People love to eat food that other people make for them. I need to remember that. The Cherry Poke Cake was also an experiment that turned out just fine, too.

Then a wonderful thing happened ... Jake did all the kitchen clean up, so I could sit in the living room in front of the fireplace with everyone else. 😇 Lovely.

We went to the candlelight service at 10:00 pm, which was lovely, too.

I made a ham dinner on Christmas Day. With cheesy potatoes, a sweet chopped kale salad, corn, lefse, and homemade cranberries.

Bruce brought out the unused piñata that we had given to him on his birthday. (I suspect that this might have been planned so that there could be a bigger audience to watch him beat the thing open 😉). And when the piñata finally broke, there was a cloud of dust suspended in the air from the bag of peanuts in the shell. (We thought unshelled peanuts were a better idea instead of candy except then that it made such a mess. Oh, well.) I think we all had the same look of confusion on our faces when we stared at the dust suspended in the air!

Our Christmas traditions are changing, but maybe that's okay. It's probably most important to just enjoy your people and try not to get stressed out, which is not always easy to do.

The house is now quiet again, and I find myself thinking quite a bit about Dad.

Wishing you all a blessed Christmas, which I can still say because it's not even the 12th Day of Christmas yet.