It seems that as the years go by, I'm always looking for a more simple Christmas. And, I don't know if I've always been able to make that happen, but I think it's a good thing to work towards. I tried to slowly chip away at things needing to get done, and with the extreme cold that we had the week before Christmas, I didn't leave the house much. That helped me get food prep done, and Christmas cards addressed. This year, I wrapped Christmas presents on the kitchen floor instead of putting them into bags. Bruce said it was just like the old days! I didn't decorate the tree until 2 days before the weekend, and as I looked through the box of favorite Christmas decorations, I ended up getting more excited, and decided to decorate a few of the rooms, too. I do think we should leave the decorations up, though, at least through New Years!
We had our traditional appetizers, plus baked macaroni and cheese, calico beans, and cherry cinnamon applesauce jello. Bruce thought we should try making bacon wrapped steak bites, which we did. They were pretty putzy and time consuming to assemble, though, and we decided that in the end, they probably weren't worth all the effort. Brianna and Jake had a chicken wild rice hot dish to share, plus Jake baked Scottish shortbread and cranberry lemon bars. Katie baked up a lot of Grandma Joyce's recipes of cookies and bars, so there were plenty of sweets! I had asked Grandma Joyce what her favorite dessert was, and she said chocolate pie, so we had to have that. I looked around for an extra special recipe to use, but then it was the day before Christmas Eve, and with the bad weather, I made the decision to just make a humble chocolate pudding pie with what I already had in the house.
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| Jake's Scottish Shortbread and Katie's Christmas Platter |
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| Yummy |
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| Jake's Cranberry Lemon Bars |
Little Boy was really well behaved with all the excitement! And, Grandma Joyce had a happy afternoon with all her family around her, and a cat on her lap as she sipped on hot cider. We did a Secret Santa gift exchange, and Bruce and I gave each other snowshoes. Katie was my Secret Santa, and she gave me a mug with a crow on it. I'm beginning to think that the crow is my spirit animal. They sure seem to want to hang around me in the warmer months!
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| Crow Mug |
On Christmas Day, we went over to Katie and Avi's for pizza and leftover appetizers. They'd also invited another couple over who had a little friend for Aaron to play with. That was a nice afternoon, too.
I think the best part of Christmas is not the getting of a lot of things, but sharing tasty food with family, and getting time to catch up with my kids. 💕 Life is so busy for everyone these days, it's easy to lose track of one another. It can take effort to hold on to each other!
