December 25, 2010

• it’s Christmas day in the morning..

  It’s been a great day celebrating Christmas with the family out on the deck. A lovely breakfast followed by round one of presents… followed by meal prep and meal consumption, desert prep and desert consumption… and then lounging around digesting.

  This (below) is a video from Judah’s Christmas program… i dont think i’ve posted it yet.

  One of Asher’s favourite gifts was the Christmas card from Grandparents Plett: a musical card with a barking dog.

  just a look around the after dinner table.

  
  we decorated the tree (some more) on Christmas eve whilst drinking hot chocolate and eating Christmas goodies… and then after the baby went to bed we watched The Santa Clause.

  
  Asher and Auntie Brielle

  
  opening pressies

  
  that’s me. i posted it because my husband almost never takes photos of me, so this is a momentous occasion.

  
  opening more presents.

  
  here’s Eric reading the card from Grampa Reimer. Thanks for the gifts Grampa and Grama Hilda!

  
  this photo looks silly, but really, the gift made us chortle with glee and lick our lips

  
  Judah got a lot of Spiderman stuff for Christmas.

  
  and Josh got a special gift from Matthew S. haha. I wonder if his wife informed him of this.
  the story is, at Rhonda and Matthew’s departure garage sale i discovered these blue Jets sweatpants. I declared to Rhonda that not many people would recognize the true value of those sweats and she came up with the idea to gift them to Josh for Christmas from Matthew. ha. I thought it a hilarious idea myself. As you can see he was quite thrilled with them.
  

  
  although we all agreed not to give gifts amongst the adults this year, i confessed that i had already bought some for my sisters in law before we made that decision… and i bought my mother a jewel encrusted bracelet while she was standing next to me at the jeweler – i ordered it in french and she was none the wiser. heehee.

  
  we did gifts out on the deck, dragged the tree out also.

  
  My parents bought Asher’s Christmas gift last week at Shoprite. It was a Huge hit!! He’s a teddy bear kinda guy.

  

  ---

  Another lovely Christmas day spent (after a lot of hours in the kitchen) enjoying Christmas luncheon on the deck. Our only complaint – which the Manitobans refused to complain about – was that it was too hot in the sun for those who werent under the shade canopy we rigged up with an old sheet to protect us from the sun. I will say, if i may, that by now i reckon i can pull off the organization of a Christmas day meal without much stress – everyone helped a lot and by 5:15pm we’ve only the desert dishes to do after stuffing ourselves like the proverbial turkey. On the menu this year was mostly traditional dishes – laid out festively on a not-as-traditional holiday table out on the deck:
  -two large(ish) chickens bought via our house help lady’s neighbour for 17,000Ar/pc (ca. 9$) which Josh and the guys BBQ’d, both with a home made rub, one impaled on beer can. They were moist and oh so delicious. Below: Geoff making the rub.
  

  Josh and Geoff prepping the birds and the Bar-Bees
  

  – two batches of stuffing baked in oven a la Jocelyne. As opposed to this last Thanksgiving, i used the right spice this time ’round and which called for much loud shouting of excitement from the cook when i smelled the ‘right’ smell when they came out of the oven.
  
  (ok, i realize that in this photo i look like i’ve gained 40pounds… and that rumors may develop regarding more r.pletts on the way: just so we’re all clear, i’m NOT pregnant!!)

  – i will say here however that because we shipped off our two MAF issued ovens, the gas one whose oven didnt work and the electric one that was falling apart at the seams but which we used for the oven, to sell at the MAF garage sale this last week we did most of our Christmas meal baking in a new gas stove which caused no end of frustration. Note to future self: do not try learning to use a new oven the day before Christmas!
  – two stellar salads: one with spinach from my back garden picked by Eric and Lara and put together by Brielle,
  

  and the fruit salad composed by Brielle. Wowzers. it was stunning.

  

  

  

  – and the table decorations/set up was done by Lara – also uber lovely!
  

  

  

  

  – Mashed potatoes and gravy made by mom.
  – the unending stream of dishes washed by dad and many others.
  
  – Asher duty taken by all.
  – the other unending stream of pressies, unwrapped by Judah intermittently throughout the day.
  – pumpkin pie with praline topping and whipped cream made by me enjoyed with coffee and Amarula (a gift from G&B)

  
  Josh carving the birds.

  
  it was a pretty fantastic lunch, made better by all the hard work by everyone.

   

  • 12:21 pm
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