Christmas Recap

Christmas Eve I spent most of the day baking and preparing food. My in-laws have a big Christmas Even dinner but we don't get to open any presents or our stockings that night. I volunteered to make desert and some sides. My brother in law loves my grandma's stuffing (he ate the leftover stuffing and only the leftover stuffing for lunch on Christmas Day).

Pecan Pie with Christmas Trees Made from Extra Crust

Rainbow Jello Salad was a big hit!

I made the desserts in the morning. I mixed up dough for Christmas morning's cinnamon rolls and Mr. H kneaded the bread. He also did all the dishes.

I spent the afternoon at my in-laws and then went back to our apartment to bake the corn pudding and the dressing. When I got back I discovered  a mysterious leak in the fridge and I had to clean up a big puddle of water at the bottom of the fridge. Fortunately the jello, which was still setting inside partially covered, was not ruined.

Some how a whole lot of butter (this morning I scraped about 1/2 stick of butter worth of fat from the floor of the oven) ended up all over the floor of the oven and it started smoking. Our apartment FILLED UP with SMOKE right as I was trying to get ready to head back to my husband's parents' house. So I opened all the doors and windows when it was 17º out. Then headed back for dinner and worried that I had set our apartment on fire all evening. Everything was fine when we got back from dinner.

Christmas Day was sunny, beautiful, and frigid. But the sun looked so pretty shining thru the ice on all the tress. On Christmas morning Mr. H and I opened our presents together and then headed over to his parents' house. 

I gave him the card with bacon and eggs and he gave me
an ornament depicting a skillet with bacon and eggs.
We're perfect for each other, clearly.

We keep our stockings for each other under our bed and exchange them first thing in the morning. They're usually mostly full of candy and useful knickknacks. This year Mr. H only got candy. After looking through our stockings we went downstairs to open our presents.

I made myself a nice cup of coffee and I got to use up some of the whole milk left over from all the cooking and baking I did yesterday.

New Juice Glasses, a Garlic Chopper, a Doughnut Pan, &c.

I mostly get kitchen things. Mr. H knows my favorite present is a useful present.

My In-Law's Back Yard

After opening up our presents and cleaning up some of the wrapping paper. We got ready and I rolled up the cinnamon rolls to take over to Mr. H's parents' house. The drive over was cold (it was 10º and I wasn't expecting it to be so cold so I didn't wear boots or bring a scarf) but beautiful since the sun was stinging thru the ice on the trees that the ice storm had left behind.

We snuck in the back door of my in-laws house and waited in the kitchen and dining room. Since the presents from Santa were sitting under the tree unwrapped. While I was getting settled my husband and his brother had a panicked conversation. My BIL had gotten me a mostly green plaid L.L. Bean shirt. I wore my favorite Princess Mary Tartan flannel shirt that day. (I didn't snap an OOTD shot but the shirt is in one of the outfits I shared in this post in November.) I would have been absolutely thrilled if he had gotten me another shirt in the Princess Mary Tartan since it is my favorite.

Mr. H found some very strong
magnets in the kitchen and
he put them on his nose.
So charming. : /

I got the cinnamon rolls in the oven, set a timer, and then we started on the presents. We opened our stockings at the dinning room table and then moved into the living room to be by the tree.

Their tree filled up half the room.

We sat down and my mother-in-law started distributing presents. My husband's family is absolutely wonderful. They always make me feel so welcome and they always get me wonderful presents. I am truly blessed to have them in my life.

I put most of my presents into the cake saver I got. It kept
the dogs from getting and the candies from my stocking.

When we were done opening presents we feasted on the cinnamon rolls I had baked. 

My cinnamon roll with some of the contents of my stocking.

I had a horrible headache at some point and I realized that it was being made so much worse by my "new" (purchased after last Christmas) red and green headband. It went away as soon as I took it off.

My first roll playing my new game. The goal is to
get brains, not shot gun blasts. Three shot gun blasts
and your turn is over.

We played with some of our new toys and we had leftovers for lunch. We had homemade pizza for dinner and after dinner we played Cards Against Humanity together. (My sister in law got it for Christmas so that she can take it with her to college in the fall.) That was a very interesting experience. I won and named myself the most horrible person ever.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas if you celebrate and if you don't I hope you had a good day off. Here in Maine everything except for the L.L. Bean flagship store is closed for Christmas.