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December 29, 2006

Thank You, Santa

Our Christmas holiday with Bev, Colleen, Jorge, and the rascally pups went beautifully (and too quickly). We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas.

The snow arriving on Saturday meant a gorgeous winter wonderland all around, without a worry that they'd have trouble on the road up here Sunday. (They had similar luck on the way home - we got another 4 inches of snow on Boxing Day night, after they were safely home.) Richard made an amazing Christmas Eve dinner, a special ham following the tradition of my family, with mashed potatoes, squash baked with brown sugar and spices, grilled peppers, asparagus, mushrooms, and zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce, and sauteed green cabbage. The man knows how to make vegetables to die for, and our honey-baked ham was well worth the expense. Mmm.

We followed that up with various Christmas treats that Bev, Richard and I had made, and then drove into town to work off the excess with an hour walk through the Wildlights display at the wildlife centre. It was an even bigger show than last year and with a slight wind blowing the tree branches, all the LED-lit trees looked magical. It wasn't too cold, either, hovering just around zero for most of their three-day visit.

We got up Christmas morning to presents under the tree from Bev, Colleen and Jorge, as well as Jorge's parents, and a bow marking a very special belated present to ourselves that we're picking up tomorrow. Then Richard made eggs Benedict with the leftover ham and we sat around feeling decadent and relaxed until noon, when Richard went to take a nap and the rest of us took the pooches out for a walk in the snowy meadow.

Poor Grizzly didn't enjoy donning his dog booties but soon got the hang of it, and they helped keep the snow from matting in his curly hair. He still needed a few minutes under a blow dryer when we got back to the house. The snow was just deep enough to make walking a bit of a slog so we had to cut it short, but I bet Jorge got some stunning photographs. Then it was time to leave the dogs in the yard and go visit the llamas, goats, and sheep. We had lots of vegetables, alfalfa, and fruit for them, and they swarmed the fence, even giving Colleen a kiss. Bev learned just how bad llama breath can get when we let Coco indulge in too much alfalfa and she spattered us with a wet green sneeze. Bleh. Buddy wasn't interested in the food so much as visiting. He stuck close to me on the way back to our gate and insisted on being let in once the dogs were back in the house. We let the llamas wander around out back while Grizz kept an eye on them from the windows.

When we got back Richard had finished deboning the turkey and it wasn't long before we sat down to a traditional turkey dinner. Richard made his cranberry-apple-pecan stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie (more brown sugar and spices), gravy from the turkey bones he cooked all day, carrots, peas, and brussel sprouts, and cranberry sauce. And, since my attempt at stringing cranberries to decorate the light above the table had ended in a tablecloth catastrophe, he used the string of cranberries to decorate the platter instead. He also dried mandarins for a garnish, and the rich colours on the plate were just gorgeous.

Later, for dessert we made plum pudding - which includes neither plums nor pudding in it, mind you - with custard and ice cream, and watched a movie with half an eye while catching up with each other and ogling magazines full of decorating ideas. Very relaxed, snug and warm... I'd wished going into the holidays that we had a fireplace in the living room next to our tree, instead of our ugly metal shelving holding our media stuff, but curled up on the couches with the dogs on cushions at our feet and the tree twinkling in the corner, lights on the trees visible outside and snow all around, it was very cosy and Christmasy. I'm looking forward to tomorrow night, when our New Year's guests arrive to enjoy the same all over again. There will be six of us a least, possibly more, and Richard is planning another decadent meal (if you're not coming you're missing out on perfect prime rib, just so you know!). We might also get Rob's pool table in the basement set up, and then there's that present of ours arriving tomorrow to play with. Might even go to Wildlights again. It's going to be another wonderful weekend!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!

Posted by anita at December 29, 2006 11:23 AM