5 posts tagged “christmas”
While it looked iffy at times, we did in fact survive 4 holiday parties, including one of my own yesterday, plus hosting a house guest, in 3 days. While there is still cleaning to do, there is no more cooking, no more wrapping, no more running amok, or timing of naps, nor dressing up two resistant children. Just blissful rest over a cup of cocoa and leisurely reading my feeds. Ah, Boxing Day, my favourite day of the holiday season.
Despite my obvious fatigue, we did have a ton of fun. The 23rd was spent at my mother in law's. Christmas Eve was split between my husband's aunt's house (and at least 40 of Bill's relatives!) and my mom's, followed by a rather magical Midnight Mass. Bill stayed home with the sleeping children and wrapped the pressies while I was at church with my grandmother. So I was actually able to be in bed by 3am, and slept until nearly 9am! Abbey was up by 10, Liam up by 11, and company here by 1.
The menu for our brunch changed a bit since we had forgotten a few needed items on our last store jaunt. We ended up having:
- haluski
- kielbasi (made by my gram)
- sweet potatoes (also made by my gram)
- sauteed mushrooms with garlic
- french toast from fresh baked bread (made by Bill)
- chocolate chip pancakes (also made by Bill)
- traditional and chocolate croissants
- fruit salad
- sausage
- clementines
- baguettes
- panetone
- chocolate mascarpone cheesecake with raspberry coulis
- assorted cookies and pumpkin chocolate chip bread
- mulled cider
so as you can see, it was a bit of a hodge podge, but well received.
And now, time to rest, then get caught up on some work. It's funny how work feels restful after all that, lol!
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas (or insert your holiday of choice here____.)
Cheers!
If you're still doing your holiday baking and want something non-fussy, easy to make, yet elegant, I *highly* recommend these. In my case, I used Bill's espresso instead of the called-for medium roast since the beans were already in the hopper for our burr grinder. It's a fairly grown-up cookie, and amazing dunked in a hot cuppa.
What are YOU baking this year?
So--last year I thought it was important to go to LED lights. We bought blue for the outside (to match some novelty blue & white snowflake lights that my husband and brother could never manage to hang up) and white for the inside, which resulted in a glowing fluorescent white Christmas tree. This year I resolved to do better. I searched online, found a place that I thought had a decent selection, and ordered red lights for outside, and something called antique candlelight (which looked online like conventional white lights) for the tree inside. The company I ordered it from had a special where you can pay $20 extra for your items to ship the same day if you order before 4pm pacific. Well, I put in my order at 8:30 am pacific and felt confident all would be well. Cut to mid-afternoon the next day and I get an email from the company saying that the reds are sold out, what else would I like? First, I'm pissed because, hello, shouldn't my order have shipped already? And secondly, I had to revise my entire outside decorating plans. I did remind them of the extra fee i paid for them to ship the same day and asked for a refund since that obviously hadn't happened. And we went back and forth via email, with them going on about how time sensitive it was, so I finally called them (long distance since there was no 800 number) and they put me on hold for close to half an hour. We finally settled on them sending me their last 12 antique candlelight (I had originally ordered 16 sets total). Well, it's 2 weeks later, they finally showed up, and they're orange. Frakkin. Orange. Christmas. Lights. As in, more appropriate if we actually cared to decorate for Halloween. So, I grabbed the packing slip to see about returning them. First, I have to notify them before I am allowed to return them. Secondly, I have to prepay shipping to return (expected, but still a hassle). Thirdly, I have to pay them a 15% (not dollars, PERCENT) restocking charge for my $200 light order for the privilege of sending the damned things back at a time of year when they're flying off the shelves (remember, I got the last 12 sets)
I. Am. Livid.
Christmas Treasures of Blue River, OR? You guys SUCK.
(if you scroll way down on the linked page above, you'll see their demonstration of the differences between pure white, warm white, and antique candlelight. Let's just say that the picture was VERY deceiving. I expected yellowy, not outright ORANGE)
Are you throwing or attending a holiday party this year? Any ideas/tips to share?
Yup. We're having brunch for my family on Christmas morning. I don't have the menu completely set but it will most likely consist of some of the following:
- fresh baked croissants (both traditional and au chocolat)
- fruit salad (probably a jazzed up version of the mixed fruit from Whole Foods)
- tossed salad
- baked cauliflower with gruyere (at which time I'll measure amounts of what goes in for those of you to whom I promised the recipe!)
- vegetarian minestrone sans beans
- french toast
- ham (for my dad and Bill)
- sausage/bacon for my sibs
- roasted new potatoes
- fresh juice
- a cornucopia of desserts include pizzelles, Abbey's "train cake," and chocolate mascarpone cheesecake with raspberries
Advice? Suggestions? Don't try this with a newborn and a toddler, lol. Thank goodness we'll only have ten people and the bulk of this is made (and/or prepped) ahead so it won't be too nuts between presents and 9am Mass and people showing up around noon.
And now, my friends, I need to finish my Christmas cards before they turn into Chinese New Year cards. Again.
Despite the 28 degree start to the day, it ended up quite warm and Abbey wanted to go for a walk. While out, we saw a lot of our neighbours had either already decorated for Christmas or were taking advantage of the lovely weather and were putting up their trimmings while we were en route. I was thinking, "Geez, a little early isn't it, " until I realized:
Christmas is a month from today. Yikes!
