Christmas weekend

And it’s just the two of us again. These past couple days were a whirlwind of activity.

Friday evening we went to church. Robin chose the 5PM service, not knowing that was the children’s one. A little different, as each Sunday school class had a presentation. We headed home and I made buffalo wings. I would have thought 4 pounds of chicken would have gone farther, but we finished them off fast, with a fair amount of celery. We went over to Mel and Scott’s for a while, also catching up with some other friends, it was fun. We headed home as we still had plenty of prep for Christmas.

Christmas morning everyone was up early but me. I didn’t get up ’til nearly 11. Robin had opened most of her gifts, and we had to wait for Sue to finish making her dessert so Jill and I could open our stockings. I got her a Starbucks card and some restaurant gift certificates (Ice House & Supper Club of India), and she got me the U2 CD, and some low carb snacks. I made eggs benedict for breakfast, then we cleaned up the place and fetched some firewood from the woods while we played Christmas movies (old school, too: Holiday Inn and White Christmas).

I was cooking goose and a rib roast for dinner, and I thought I would cook them together for two hours. Luckily I checked to see how long the goose should take to cook, and found out for the one I had and stuffed, it was supposed to cook for 4 hours. I popped it in the oven as it was just over 3 until we were planning on eating, and it cooked faster than advised. Jill made mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus and broccoli. I made gravy from the goose fat. We were a little delayed getting everything out to the table, but everyone wasn’t quite ready to eat. In addition to Jill’s family, my immediate family joined us, so we had 8 around the table.

After dinner it was time for presents, and we ripped into them (after I got a fire going). I got a nice collection of DVDs from my family (seasons of Futurama, Simpsons, and the first Looney Tunes collection), and a sweet 6 pack of Dave’s Insanity sauces from Jill’s mom. Jill’s sister was happy to get her McFlurry set (Jill found the last one in the store), and I gave my sister a new printer that can print with just her camera’s compact flash card.

After presents, we had dessert. Jill had made a low carb chocolate pudding pie that was very tasty, and her mom made Indian pudding, a traditional dessert. I turned on the TV for “It’s A Wonderful Life”. I hadn’t quite mastered the HD antenna, and kept switching from messing with it and keeping the fire going for a while. By the time the movie was over, everyone was wiped out and headed for bed.

Sunday morning the ladies got up early for the sales. Sue wasn’t feeling well and went back to bed before I got up. I went online to find a decent waffle recipe, then made the batter and prepped our new waffle machine, making a pile when Jill and Robin returned. They went out again and Dave and I enjoyed his Christmas tradition – watching “Die Hard”. It looked nice on the TV, but not as nice as the Redskins game (shame about the outcome). Some HD broadcasts aren’t maximizing the screen, but football sure does – and the sound’s in 5.1 as well. Dave was impressed he heard a coach get off the f word before they cut the surround mike. I think I’d be happy just to watch football on that TV – it’s truly amazing.

Mom wanted to host a dinner, so most of us (Sue still wasn’t feeling well) headed over there to join her and Sharon for a nice ham dinner. Dessert was a yummy cherry torte and her cookies (that must have crack as one of the ingredients). We got to see Trina again as she opened her stocking (Santa was very good to her this year). Jill had to work today, so we didn’t stay that long. Jill and Robin headed to bed, and Dave and I watched some football highlights and Mythbusters (ironically the same episode that was a conversation topic Friday night – ice bullets and rotting pigs) before going off to sleep ourselves. This morning I helped them pack their overstuffed car (including some things left behind in September) before heading off to work myself. The house is pretty messy, and probably won’t change much until both of us are off on Friday.