Leah's skit was awesome. Everyone was laughing and she had so many compliments on it. The youth overacted just enough with out making it to much. And everyone was right in there. It was great. Emily and Avery came to hang out with Leah and Blake that night. The four of them agreed to go see Santa as long as they didn't have to sit on his lap. They thought if they went in pairs they wouldn't. But Santa made them. Hence the slightly uncomfortable odd pictures. :/ It was a delicious dinner and the whole program was excellent. Top Notch ward party.
We had a nice Christmas Sacrament Meeting. Leah sang with Myrna and Emry. They always sound so good together. Monday we went to town for one last grocery before Christmas. I had gotten all I needed the week before, but then Dave decided to have a potluck at work and Blake informed me he had a Secret Santa at school. So we had to go back and replace what food and items they had used for those. We also did some grad dress shopping with Leah. Blake was very excited to be involved with that. As we dropped the food off to Dave for his potluck we did a quick tour of the his plant. Leah did not have closed toed shoes on and Dave gave her these awesome yellow metal things to cover her toes. Haha she sounded like a horse clip clopping through the plant.
I'm sure I have mentioned before that Myrna has a Grandkids Tree. We each make ornaments each year with our kids on them to give her. It is really neat and they all love going and looking at past ornaments and their cousins ornaments through the years. I regret not making extra for myself while I was at it, but it's a little to late now. Some years I love what I do and some years I think, 'well that did not turn out great'. This year I loved them. And as my kids grow and move out this will be the last year with separate ornaments. Next year just one for them all.
Dave and I have been having appetizers as our Christmas Eve meal since we first got married. I love appetizer meals and Christmas Eve is the perfect time to splurge. Although this year I was smarter and made small amounts of everything. But each year we try to remember our favorites from the year before. So to follow is a long borrow spiel about my food that no one cares about but I want to just look up next year. (Dave says no one should take pictures and blog about their food unless you have a food blog. And should NEVER use the word yummy. Unless you are 10 :)) So this is for me.
Our constants are Lazy Potato Skins, Shrimp, Veggies and Dip, Panko Chicken Bites, Oranges, Meatballs, and 7-Layer Dip. We saved the meatballs and dip this years since we were having it two days later at Puzey Christmas get together.
We used to do Bacon Wrapped Wiener, but two years ago, Cora was at a New Year's Eve party and they served Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts. Last year she wanted us to try making them. I am not a big fan of water chestnuts, but she was very excited to share this with us.
totally converted first bite. I don't like wiener and always just eat one for the crispy caramelized bacon. But the water chestnut was so good. You don't taste the chestnut, it just takes on the flavor of the bacon and gives it a crunch. This has been added to the must have list.
Three years ago I pinned these Goat Cheese wrapped strawberries. They looked incredible good, but I could not wrap my head around cheese and strawberries. Again, but, I wasn't willing to unpin because I was intrigued. This year I had some free money with my PC Card and decided to just go for it. If it was nasty it was free money wasted. They were not nasty. Unless you ask Blake. He did not enjoy them at all. The rest of us decided they were good enough to eat each Christmas and they were a beautiful colorful addition. But the more bites I had the more they grew on me. The flavorful herbs and crunchy nuts with the soft cheese and sweet strawberry was truly wonderful.
Later I used the left over goat cheese with some raspberries in a grilled cheese sandwich, with a little cinnamon. Very delightful dessert grilled cheese. (I dream of owning a Grilled Cheese only pop up restaurant and have been experimenting over the last year with different combinations. We have had some very very tasty concoctions) Anyways I digress.
I usually enjoy a good cheese ball. I don't like to eat much and if I do I enjoy the outside best. So this year we tried a cheese log. That way everyone got the tasty outside in almost every bite. And for my family halved the recipe, we still had lots left over. It was a Bacon Jalapeno Cheese Log and will also be added to the must have list.
Our Must Have Christmas Eve list is getting longer. We enjoyed lots of the left over Christmas Day in the evening.
I stole one of Dave's sweatshirts a few years ago. It is way to big but had no hood and was perfect for just wearing around the house. He thought it was funny so one day he washed it and folded it up and officially presented it to me. The kids thought it was hilarious. Anyways on many an evening we end up matching in our sweatshirts as we watch a movie or play games. Dave started to joke that we needed making pj bottoms as well. So for our Christmas Eve pj this year that is what I did.
After appetizers and opening of pajamas it was time for the Christmas Nativity. I was struggling this year about what to do. As the kids get older I wanted to do something different than just read the story or act it out. I feel like we were just doing that to get to our movie. So I started thinking about the true meaning of Christmas. And to me it wasn't necessarily the birth that was significant, but because of whom the birth was. Does that make sense? I am not downplaying that important event in history, but was just thinking there is not a huge holiday for example my birthday It is Christ and because of what he did and does for us that we celebrate his birth. We read the nativity story and watched The Christ Child again, but then we went through the Light the World calendar and talked about what/if we did something each day and how we felt about it. We talked about the power of repentance and the blessings of the Holy Ghost. The blessings we have from knowing Christ. How our lives would be different without Him. What getting to know him and following his commandments really means to each of us. It was a nice discussion with our kids. Then we did watch our movie. Our traditional movie is A Christmas Story, but we could not find it this year. Very disappointed still. Blake and Leah had a sleepover and off to bed we all went.
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