Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas in Mission VIejo

(One of my favorite ornaments, that I might take someday for my own Christmas tree)

Now that I have a new camera (yay!! Thank you Sabine and Ed!!!) I can actually give some personality to this sad little blog with my Christmas recaps. As I didn't get to start using the camera until Christmas evening, I don't have a lot of the trip captured, but I did what I could :).

The star, of course, was this little one here:


 Amelia, all 11 months of here, was the belle of the ball. With her expert crawling skills (up and down stairs, no less!), and overall cuteness, there were certainly many vying for her attentions. Since it had been 3 months since Ed and I had seen her, we were so happy to spend time with her, even if she was a little unsure about us at first. 


I had fun helping Amelia play with the Christmas tree, showing her how to take off an ornament, and then put it back on. While she won't remember this, it certainly felt like we were creating special memories. 


Our Christmas schedule was a little changed up this year, with traditional Christmas eve festivities shifted to the 23rd (church, followed by Roundtable pizza - this was always a much anticipated meal). Ed and I also had fun playing Dominion with some high school friends. 

On the real Christmas eve, we had over our Aunt Lynn, her fiance, our cousins, my cousin Adam's wife, and her mother-in-law, for a very nice dinner. We always all try to get together this time of year, and it was a really nice change to traditions. 

Christmas day, itself, is always a very drawn out affair, starting with stockings, then breakfast, and then opening the presents. We had an earlier start this year, meaning that we finished about 12:30 (instead of the usual 2pm). We had another change to our tradition, with a couple from my parents small group joining us for dinner.

We had great appetizers (including this delicious 7 layer greek dip made by my sister Ashley), and Kortney tried out our new game with us, 7 wonders. 


Ed did take some time to sneak away with Amelia, who had found a stash of her games upstairs. 


Then, it was time for dinner. 


We had a fancier dinner than usual, actually serving it as courses. I helped my mom by plating the salad course, a delicous pear, raspberry and bacon salad, on bibb lettuce. 


For dinner we had beef tenderloin with gorgonzola butter and mushroom bread pudding.


And, for dessert, peppermint ice cream profiteroles with chocolate sauce. 


 After dinner, we enjoyed relaxing around the table,


and having great discussions. 



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