Sisters!

Christmas Eve Feast of Fishes

One of the great perks of my niece C's (G's mom) job is that she gets a lot of time off at Christmas time. She is a great party planner too so we spent days searching for some great fish recipes for our Christmas Eve Feast of Fishes. Notice that I don't call it Feast of Seven Fishes…because I am never good at doing just seven. One year we ended up with eleven fish dishes…not a good idea…just way to much food. Usually we do less then seven and that works the best for us.

Now where do you go to get great fresh fish?
Wholey's in the Strip District.

So the day before Christmas Eve we headed to the strip. First stop Biscotti Yum! If you are going to the strip you have to get some Biscotti. Next is Penn Mac (Pennsylvania Macaroni Company)

Get all your Italian goods here, from olive oils to imported San Marzano tomatoes, but prepare to stand in line, especially at the cheese counter where you will find a super cheese section and Carol will be sure to call you "dearheart". C braved that line and the deli line while G and I explored the rest of the store. Now for Wholey's and yes more long lines…so we go in and hang out by the shrimp while we plan our strategy to get all the fish we need. So there is this guy with an apron on and we start asking him about the shrimp, he told us about all the shrimp and which one was his favorite. So then he asks if we need anything else and we tell him what we need as we look over at the crowd of people at the fish counter. He says "Would you like me to go over and get what you need" and we are all "OMG yes that would be so wonderful" and off he goes behind the counter and gets everything we need. He comes back and we try to give him a tip because he just saved us so much time. He says oh no thats alright and we say no please take it and he says no really no and we say please you saved us so much time and he says "no, I'm Mr. Wholey"!!! Then we were even more thankful and thrilled to meet him. He was so nice.

So here are the results of our planning, shopping, and cooking

Fried meatballs

A nap before dinner

My pasta sauce (family recipe) yum

Shrimp

Johnny Cake

Halibut

Scallops

Salmon

Lobster Bisque

Italian Cream Soda

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is

It's Still Christmas……..

It is still Christmas on my DVR!!!
I have a 50ish % full DVR so when I have time (like when G is napping on the couch next to me)

(G stretched out with her feet on my tummy)

I try to catch up on the shows/movies I've recorded. I enjoy seeing the Christmas episodes and Christmas commercials now that Christmas is long past.

I hope you share my love of an extended Christmas because it is still Christmas here on my blog :)
Some silly Christmas fun:

G and P waiting for our church Christmas program to start

Cousins Love

Pastor S

Singing

For My Nieces

You are my girls...I love each and every one of you :)

Problem + Solution + Better Solution Thanks to Santa's Elves

Once upon a time I had a beautiful prelit tree with all white lights. One of my favorite things to do during Christmas is turn the tree on and turn all the other lights out. I love sitting and looking at my beautiful Christmas tree.

This year when I put my tree up a few of the strands were out. No problem…I had a few small strands of white lights and I was able to use them to light up the dark areas.

Then a few days later I turned my tree on

Problem:

3/4 of the tree was out.

It was so sad looking.

Solution:
I put my LED snowflakes on the tree

A little better but still sad

Better Solution:
Santa's elves came along and put some colored lights on the tree

Much better now

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is

Be a child at Christmas time

Be a child at Christmas time
With a merry heart aglow
Through a frosty window pane
You can see the falling snow

Trim the tree with candy canes
Listen to the church bell chime
Say a little prayer at nights
Be a child at Christmas time

Be a child at Christmas time
Listen to the church bell, church bell chime

Only children understand
What a merry heart can do
Be a child and you'll agree
Everything is bright and new

When the snow comes dancing down
And you hear the church bell chime
Let your heart be young again
Be a child at Christmas time

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is

Our Annual Christmas Movie Day

We had our annual Christmas movie day the day after Thanksgiving. My men left in the morning to go hunting and me and my girls spent the rest of the day/evening talking, eating Thanksgiving leftovers, watching Christmas movies, eating Christmas goodies, Christmas Karaoke, and more eating :)

B and C decorated some cookies

G watching a movie

Aunt T and P

Our cutie patooties

Gifts

S and K

G C C B and A

Christmas Karaoke

and a little dancing

Love, Laugh, and Always know where the nearest bathroom is