Christmas 2011

We had a wonderfully quite Christmas this year.  I think it was the most laid back Christmas we have had yet.  We have celebrated three Christmases so far and have two more to go.

Our first delicious dinner was brought to us by my sister in law Kathy and her husband Dave The Saturday before Christmas.  We were supposed to have a full family dinner which has been postponed to January due to a viral infection.  Otis was really excited to open gift and have family here to visit.  I decided to give the kids their Christmas P.J's that night so that they could wear them at all of the Christmases we would be celebrating.

Christmas Eve was pretty fun.  Dave and I stocked the tree with all the gifts we would be opening before Otis woke up.  When he went down to wake up nonna he discovered there were a lot of presents under the tree he ran back upstairs shouting about all the presents that were under the tree.  you would have thought that Santa had come already.

There were only five of us for dinner including Marlo.  We had are usual seafood dinner just on a much smaller scale.  After dinner we opened all the gifts.  It was a night a Star Wars.  Just about every gift Otis received was Star Wars other then the few other items I picked up.  Once all of the new toys had be sufficiently played with we all headed downstairs to watch one of our favorite Christmas movies Die Hard.

I managed to get Marlo's Stocking finished on Christmas Eve. Santa came in the middle of the night and left the kids stockings full of goodies and a few other gifts under the tree.  We were lucky enough to get to sleep in until 8am.  We opened all the new gifts under the tree and had a yummy breakfast Dave made. Once we were all dressed and ready to go we hit the road for Niagara to see My Dad's side of the Family.  It to was a nice relaxed day spent eating delicious foods and visiting with everyone.  It was Marlo's first time at her Nonno and Nana's house.  She was very good all day including the drive to and from Niagara.

I try to make at least one hand made gift a year.  This year Marlo will get a dress that is still not complete and Otis got a pencil crayon holder.  The whole time I was making it, I told him it was for someone else.  He asked me many times if he could have one too because his pencil crayons keep falling out of the box.  I love being able to surprise him.

Gingerbread House - Fail

Here it is, the annual gingerbread house.  I think the set was from last year.  The icing was gloopy and did not dry.  Most of the candies rolled off.  I would call this a fail.  Oh well.

Christmas Concert

A couple of weeks ago  Otis' was in his school Christmas concert.  The kindergarten classes are the first to perform by singing a couple of different Christmas carols.  

Papa and granny were in town for their six day layover before heading out for another great adventure.  

Santa Clause 2011

Christmas Times 5

Well we made it through another Holiday.  This Year we had 5 Christmas dinners.  We actually ate Christmas dinner at my moms in shifts.  I think there were either 5 or 6 shifts.  I can't really remember now.

Otis loved Christmas this year and is very happy with all of his gifts.  He woke up Christmas Eve morning and ran downstairs.  When he came back up stairs, he was upset because Santa didn't leave him any presents.  Once we told him he had one more sleep he was very excited.  He might as well ate sugar all day because he was bouncing off the walls.

We had a nice quite dinner Christmas Eve.  It was delicious.  Otis left beer and cookies for Santa again this year in Santa's new dish set I picked up.

I have managed to almost find homes for all of our new belongings this year.  There seemed to be much more then there has been in a few years.

Otis wore his Christmas PJ's for almost three days.  He is in love with them.

I can only imagine what he is thinking in this picture.  He and Nonna had been singing and dancing.  I am not sure if this is before or after.  Otis learned Boney M's - Feliz Navidad, a regular in our family.

I am not sure if this is round 2 or 3 of dinner at my mom.  Dinner was made up of many rounds of appetizers.  So yummy.

    
 Getting a good snuggle zizi Miranda before she goes back to work

Merry Christmas

See you soon!!!!!

Feast of the Seven Fishes

We have always celebrated Christmas Eve in our house with a seafood Dinner.  I discovered this year that it is known in Italian households as the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Who knew.

La Viglia di Natale

On December 24, Italian families all over the world gather together for La Viglia di Natale--the Christmas vigil--where fish is on the menu instead of meat. Also called The Feast of the Seven Fishes, the ritual of La Viglia has been handed down from generation to generation over the centuries.

Found on allrecipes.com

Here is our menu.  

Appetizers

Shrimp Cocktail

Smoked Salmon w/ Dill cream cheese

Crab stuffed mushrooms

Main Course

Mixed Green Salad

Cajun Shrimp on a bed of rice

Bacon Wrapped Scallops (Bacon is a vegetable in our house)

Shrimp Tempura and Wonton Shrimp

Braised Kale

Dessert

Cookie from the cookie exchange

Snack 

Later in the evening we will serve a Cheese Tray made with an array of local cheese and crackers with my homemade pickles.  

The photo above is from a comic/cookbook.  There was a comic strip back in 1983 about an Italian Family preparing for Christmas Eve Dinner.  

Tree Time

The tree has finally made it up and it is decorated.    Whew, I wasn't sure it would get up this year.  Everything seems almost last minute this year.  I am hoping this weekend will get me on track.

I try to get one decoration every year to add to the collection. This year I got five.  The first three pictured are locally hand made. The felt little bird is from BRFC.  I love the look of it on our very full tree.

These two ornaments came from the Grand River Hospital gift shop of all places.  It was the only fun place to bring Jasmine for a walk to on her stay there.  Jasmine gifted me with the little bird and who can pass up a pickle.  It is so much fun pulling out ornaments from over the years.

Here is the giant pile of ornaments before they went on the tree.  Believe it or not they all made it on.  The inside of the tree is just as full as the outer branches.

 Last year I melted a bit of my stocking by leaving it hanging on the fireplace.  I had to find a new place for the stockings this year as we have been using the fireplace a lot.  We just turned the furnace on last week for the first time. 

My most exciting decoration this year is this little Charlie Brown Tree.  I have been on the hunt for one over the last couple of years.  Dave brought it home from work and made my day.  There was a point a few years back when Otis watched all the Peanuts Holiday dvd's over and over again.   Otis recognized the tree right away.

Reindeer Games

Otis had his first school performance this week.  Dave and I were both lucky enough to be able to go see him.  I love gathering mom material.  Oh the black mailing this will be used for in the future.  

Sorry it is blurry.  The best I can do online.  

Visiting Santa

Otis has never been to a mall to visit Santa before.  His first Christmas Santa came to us.  He was so amazed by him.

We did try to go a couple years back but when we got to the mall it was to early and Santa wasn't there for another week.

Last week we were at the mall to get snow pants when Otis saw Santa's village was set up and he wanted to go.  We promised him we would go on Tuesday when daddy got home from work.   I had completely forgot about it until we were walking to school and Otis was singing about it.  Going to school has really changed his awareness of things like Santa.

On they way to the mall Otis went over what he was going to ask for.  On the way through the mall Otis decided he wanted popcorn.  We tell him after seeing Santa he could have some as a treat.  It is a special day after all.  Once we get to the Santa's Village he changes his mind.  He doesn't want to see Santa anymore he just wants popcorn.  We convince him to go in.  He had to watch for awhile while others visited Santa. With a little coaxing he finally sits beside Santa and tells Dave what he wants instead of Santa.  He get down and says "Now can we get popcorn."

By the time we got home I had the picture in my inbox.  How cool is that.  I called Otis over to see the picture.  This is when the real wonder about Santa started.  "Mom, How does Santa Fly?" I say "his reindeer pull him with the sleigh".  "Reindeer's Fly?"  I say, "Yes they pull Santa's Magical sleigh"  This goes on for a few minutes.  He is really getting excited for the whole thing.

We even have a special milk and cookie dish set for Santa.

November 30th

What does November 30th mean to you?

In our house it means dig out the Christmas decorations, if we haven't done so already.  Which we haven't  the Halloween lights are still up and the Thanks giving banner has just come down to make room.   The reason for this is we need to find the Advent Calendar.

I made them for our first Christmas in this house.  For the first two years we filled the pouches with Hot Wheels.  This year we have been a bit stumped.  We only have 6 filled.  We need to think fast to fill the rest.

How is your Holiday shopping going?  Local or handmade is my approach this year.

This afternoon we were at Lens Mills  getting some supplies.  Otis spotted a gingerbread kit and instantly paused in silence.  He then asked if that was the one we got last time.  He had to make sure we were making a gingerbread house again this year.  That made me very happy.  Yeah, our traditions are forming.   He is now old enough to remember things from year to year.  This year we are going to write the first letter to Santa.  Maybe we can do that tomorrow.

Slow and steady easing into Christmas this year.

 

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was relaxing we got to watch Otis open all of Santa`s gifts.  Santa left a Tonka truck filled with wrapped gifts.  I would have uploaded a video but I am way to frustrated right now to make it happen.

After a quick clean up we headed to Niagara to celebrate christmas with my Dad`s side of the family.

During our Christmas meal I counted 7 different types of meat and seafood on my plate at one time.  I am pretty sure that is a record for me.

1. Beef
2. Chicken
3. Pork
4. Rabbit
5. Salmon
6. Shrimp
7. Crab

Boxing day led to mall shopping and adventures.  We let Otis pick out his on presents with his christmas money.

He picked Hot wheels, pull back four wheelers and a Simon Chipmunk to go with Alvin.  We are now on the hunt for a Feadore.  He hasn`t parted with them since.  They have conversations with us regularly.  I dug out Otis` Alvin costume from his second Halloween.  It is still a little big which means he will be able to wear for the wrest of the winter.

Christmas Eve 2009

We hosted Christmas Eve at our place again this year.  I went much smoother and way less stressful.  Cooking for dinner was pleasant.  We only had to think about one meal.  last year we had Christmas eve dinner all the while thinking about what needed to be done for the morning.


I spent a bit of time planning the menu so that we would have a full feast with out going to far overboard.  I must say we made the perfect amount of food.  There were just little bits left.  Unlike last year where there was so much left, the garage acted as a fridge for over a week.

I don`t do any baking over the holidays as my mom makes enough for the city of Niagara Falls.

 

Otis is in love with the Chipmunks these days.  We got him the first movie with a little Alvin

 

Nona gave Otis a Nintendo DS.  He is in love with it. He showed us how to use it.

 

This is the first year we left treats for Santa and his reindeer.

 

 The reindeer were left carrots and we left Beer and cookies for Santa.  I love skin tight PJ`s on little boys.  I think this will be the last year his Christmas jammies will have feet.