Christmas Eve

We had a quiet little Christmas this year. Zig's mom was visiting which was a wonderful treat, but we missed seeing the rest of our families. We really missed the cousins this year.The girls and I delivered the last of the neighbor gifts which  left us feeling even more of the Christmas spirit, if that is even possible on Christmas Eve. We have several older couples on our road whom we very much look forward to visiting at Christmastime. The girls sang  to everyone who was home and my favorite was our visit to Judy. She is a widow who lives a few houses down. I'm guessing she's at least 75. Her house, lawn, barns are always immaculate. She has a cute little farm house and some beautiful horses. As we were walking toward her house in the pitch black night, we saw her walking across the lawn to her barn. I stood back and the girls went on down there a few minutes later. I heard them start singing and then she came and brought them into the barn. They said she was first startled and then said to her horses "look we have some visitors!" The girls went inside to see the horses and to give her her goodies. They were very excited when they rejoined me at the road. We headed back home to finish our Christmas Eve dinner.

I think I've mentioned before how much I love pumpkins and gourds. When it came time to bid farewell to the fall decorations, I just couldn't get rid of a few of my favorites....so I spray painted them a muted gold and barn red so they could stick around for Christmas. Kind of silly, I know.

On the menu for Christmas Eve was rosemary red beet soup  (made by Sela), Parmesan crostini, golden crusted brussels sprouts, roasted sweet potatoes, pomegranate citrus salad, grilled salmon, breaded sole and  garlic roasted mushrooms. 


A very pretty soup. I love beets!


A Polish Christmas Eve tradition is the Oplatek, or Christmas wafer. The wafer is just wheat and water and has a Christmas scene embossed on it. Everyone gets their own and then family members break off a small piece of the opłatek wafer and give it to one another along with a blessing. I love this tradition for its simplicity and sweetness. We all enjoyed exchanging wishes and hopes for health and happiness with each other.














Then the girls sang and Rollin put on a  show.








Evan was with us in spirit. He went to bed before we were finished preparing dinner. 

Later in the evening the kids opened their Christmas ornaments for 2010. Rollin's was a shark because he has been absolutely mad about sharks this entire year. He's seen every shark documentary out there and loves Jaws. It was not easy finding a shark ornament but I finally located one 2 days before Christmas. It was super cute and had big teeth (important). It also a purse (wierd) but I removed it. Sela received this ornament for trying so many new and unfamiliar things this year. Nina received this ornament for becoming such a wonderful and dedicated little reader. And Evan received this one, because this is exactly how he snuggles.

I started wrapping gifts and preparing for Christmas Day at midnight and closed up shop at 2:45am. Luckily Zig's younger brother, Martin, overnighted us some delicious sticky buns from Williams Sonoma which took care of a festive Christmas Breakfast and allowed me to sleep in just a bit the next morning. The kids woke up around 8. Thank you, children!