Christmas Eve 2011

For me, Christmas Eve is a little more important than Christmas. In the 13 years that I've known Todd, I've slowly established Christmas Eve as our quiet time together...first as a young couple and now as a family of four. Its a slow-paced day full of food and preparation for the next day. I always create a menu with at least a few new things, we make cookies for Santa and do some last minute wrapping. This year's menu was made up of mostly easy dishes, use of the slow cooker and quick prep meals. I made dark chocolate and butterscotch scones, vegetable barley soup, gingerbread cookies, peppered cheese bread, garlic roasted chicken and potatoes, spinach salad with cranberries, walnuts and feta cheese and apple pie a la mode. This was my first time making chicken since high school and I can honestly say it was moist and delicious. However, the true star of our menu was the vegetable barley soup. It was warm, filling and flavorful. It was so darn good that even Norrin ate a bowlful. Anyway, besides the food, we took a short outing for some last minute Christmas shopping (I was a little grumpy to be out of my kitchen), there was the exchange of gifts from me and Todd to the kids and each other and the displaying of the milk and cookies for Santa. Ani was a little unsettled by all the changes in her daily schedule, but she's a much too happy baby to let it bother her for long. Norrin was excited and went to bed relatively promptly. Without further ado, here's a few pictures of our day...



Norrin decorating cookies...he was very serious about it and I'm pretty sure it was his favorite part of the whole day.
Taaa daaa!

Ani Rose in her Christmas striped stockings.

My wild crew- Norrin with icing on his face and Ani with drool on her chin.

Norrin singing many, many Christmas carols while Ani tries to open gifts a little bit early :).

The best gift for a gal who loves to bake- a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. This mama is mighty happy...in case, you couldn't tell.