Christmas Eve

I know everyone’s probably sick of reading all the Christmas posts out there right now in the blog world but I’m adding to them anyway.

ODD had Christmas Eve off so we dawdled around at home in the morning.  Peanut and ODD made French toast for breakfast which we ate around 11.  ODD no longer fits in his snow pants (it’s been tight for the last 3 years) so they were passed along to me and he went out after breakfast to buy some new ones.  I got the kids into their snow things and we drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Jordan Pines to go sledding.  This is the first year I’ve had snow pants and snow boots since I was probably 8 years old.  I just didn’t play in the snow much so it never made sense to me to that I might actually need them.  Since moving back to Utah we’ve gone sledding several times each winter and I’m always stuck with jeans and rain boots and it’s never very enjoyable to me.  I finally buckled down this year and bought some snow boots to go with the snow pants.  Now my only question is why did I wait so long?  It seems dumb that I kept putting it off thinking it wouldn’t be so bad them not really enjoying myself every time and not looking forward to going.  The snow pants and boots made all the difference.

We pulled the kids to the road to the hill.  Peanut loved it but Wingnut wasn’t too excited about it as you can see.

Peanut wanted to go down again and again.  She mostly went with ODD.

By the time we finished she had worked up the courage to go by herself.  She went on her own quite a few times and only needed help getting the sled back up the hill.

I took Wingnut a couple of times, too.  He was less than thrilled with the experience.

We spent most of the time sitting together and watching Peanut and ODD while Wingnut moaned, worrying he might be next.

When I took Peanut down ODD would sit with him and he would start crying all over again.  It took a couple of runs down the hill before he’d calm down, then we’d switch and it would start again.  Fun.

There were a lot of people and the snow wasn’t great but we still had a lot of fun making new tracks and sledding down the hill again and again.

When we were all worn out we went back to the car and ate some snacks we’d brought along as a late lunch since we’d had such a late breakfast.

I finished up dinner while the kids had quiet/nap time and set the table for our Christmas Eve dinner.

We had Greasy chicken,

Smashed potatoes with chicken gravy,

Butterscotch pudding in espresso cups,

and Sour Cream Rolls (not pictured).  We also had sparkling grape juice, egg nog, and ice water to go with it.

This silver pitcher was a wedding gift from a family friend, Carol.  She and my mom grew up on the same street and Carol’s mom taught my mom how to sew and cook.  In the card that came with the gift Carol explained that my Grandma L had giver her a silver pitcher when she got married and she still had it and used it for special occasions and holidays.  Since I no longer had a grandma to give one to me (my Grandma L passed when I was 7 and my Grandma A when I was 16) she wanted to fill in for just a moment.  It’s a beautiful, silver pitcher and was such a lovely gift but I’m so happy she took the time to share the story with me.  It adds so much meaning to the piece and now every time I use it I think of Carol and my Grandma L.  I polished it up for dinner and loved seeing it on the table with all the Christmas food.  The ice water made water droplets on the side so it’s harder to appreciate the beautiful silver but I still thought I’d share the photo.

For dessert I made a fluffy cheesecake.  I don’t dig heavy New York style cheesecake.  It’s too dense for my taste.  I prefer this fluffy, light kind that isn’t baked (except the crust which I prefer to be home-made).  As I was mixing the filling together it occurred to me to throw in some orange zest to liven it up a little.  It was perfect.

After dinner we watched The Polar Express then wrote a letter to Santa and burned it in the fireplace so it would go up the chimney to him.  Then it was time for bed.  We read the Luke 2 account of the Savior’s birth for family scripture time and ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas for the bedtime book.  Then we tucked the exhausted kids in and were surprised to find they went to sleep relatively quickly.  Then ODD and I watched a movie and got everything ready for Christmas morning.