Christmas Recap

This was, without a doubt, the best holiday season yet. For starters, I was able to actually enjoy my family a little during Christmas since I'm no longer working retail. For Christmas Eve, we went to church service in London, at the First United Methodist Church (where we were married). I wish I had thought to take a picture. What a gorgeous church. With all of the evergreens and candles, it was just breathtaking. My mom and dad came with us, which was awesome. I don't think I've ever gone to a Christmas Eve service. For the past 20 years I've been working on Christmas Eve, and before that we always went out of town (grandma's house), so we just didn't do church on Christmas Eve. A baby girl was baptized during the service and it was all just so touching and beautiful. I also learned something about my husband that I didn't know -- he's a loud hymn signer in church.

I hosted Christmas Day. Woo Hoo! First time hostess! My sister and her husband came up from Cincinnati with their dog (and my nephew), Wynne. My parents brought their puppies (Frankie & Lola). I got to use my china and new silverware. We ate a turducken. It was mass chaos with all of the animals. And I loved every minute of it.

On Monday we celebrated with Tom's mom and spent some time at my parents' house. Finally, today is Tom's birthday. All he wanted was for me to cook dinner. Bless his heart, he loves my cooking. I told him he could have any cake he wanted, and he selected a chocolate fudge cake with Toffee Cream icing. It tasted just as good as it looked.

Our house is back in order now. I think I've swept up all of the hair that my sister's dog so kindly left me. Our tree is still up, of course. (Isn't it bad luck to take it down before New Year's Day??) I think we're staying in on New Year's Eve, but that hasn't been finalized yet. I'm hoping we stay home - I'm looking forward to a nice, quiet evening.

Quelf!

Do yourself a favor and get this game. It is sooo much fun. My sister bought it for her hubby for Christmas, and we played it on Monday. I don't think I've laughed that hard in ages. You might have a tough time finding it. It seems to be out of stock at every Target I've been to lately, and it's $44 on Amazon.com. I'm holding out for a while. But I definitely want it. Here's the "official" description from Amazon:

Quelf is the game that gives random a new name! Use your creativity and imagination to answer crazy questions and perform ridiculous stunts. There’s only one rule – OBEY THE CARD! If a player obeys their card they get to move ahead! You’ll laugh until you cry with this outrageous, unpredictable, and fun filled party game. Be the first person to cross the finish line and you win! Enjoy a non-stop hilarious adventure with Quelf!

Cookies

Today was the first day that I have baked cookies during the holiday season for at least 10 years! I have been known to bust out a batch of cookies or cranberry bread at Christmas, but that's usually it. Working retail just sucks all of the energy and Christmas spirit out of you. So today, my mom came over and we baked all day long. We baked at my house because I have a brand new (bright red!) Kitchen Aid mixer that I wanted to use. (One of the best gifts I've ever received! That thing rocks!)

My mom is kinda good at baking. And by kinda good, what I really mean is she is amazingly talented. Born and raised on a farm, she was in FHA, 4H and also taught Home Ec in her early teaching days. So it's best to just do as she says in the kitchen. A couple of things you must know if you're baking with Cheryl:
1) Read the entire recipe first. If you don't, you will mess up somewhere and she will tell you, "That's why you read the recipe first".
2) Cream the butter and sugar together first.
3) If you're making cut out cookies, it's best to just let her roll out the dough herself. She likes that part.

Now Cheryl's going to read this and think that I'm making fun of her, but I swear that I'm not. We actually had a really good time and had a routine down pat. We made 5 different cookies today. Big Batch Kris Kringle Cookies, Peanut Blossoms, Snoballs, Peppermint Snoballs and Gingerbread Boys, Girls & Gnomes. It's mid afternoon and the kitchen is cleaned and the cookies are cooling. Between these and the cookies from last week's book club cookie exchange, I am all set! I may even have enough energy to make some cut out cookies later this week.... Maybe.