Christmas Eve 2010

Christmas Eve was spent doing last minute gift preparations, making Christmas treats, listening to Christmas music, playing outside in the "snow", and a trip to see the Zoo Lights followed by a festive dinner and presents.

We didn't have any new snow on Christmas, but that didn't stop Charlie from finding the few patches on our lawn to munch on.

My parents bought Sam and Lily new bikes for Christmas and John assembled them, with lots of "help" from Charlie. He was really good at standing right where John was working to keep careful watch over everything.


We spent a huge chunk of time making homemade caramel chocolate dipped pretzels and peppermint marshmallows to give as gifts the next morning. Luckily, Charlie took a 4 (!) hour nap so we had lots of time to work. There was a steep learning curve, but we'll be better next year.

Then we met up with Steve, Kerry, Sam, Lily, and Grandma Barbara to hit the Zoo Lights. We'd never been before. It wasn't too cold, although pretty crowded. I just made it much worse by standing in the middle of the walkways to take pictures of the lights, whoopsies. It was fun to have an activity to do before we ate ourselves into a food coma.

I made my first Christmas Eve dinner- ham, mashed potatoes, cucumber/tomato salad, pomegranate, feta, walnut green salad, artisan bread, green beans, and pumpkin pie. Luckily I had lots of help, but I was still exhausted after!

Then it was time to open presents- we had Sam and Lily close their eyes and brought in their new bikes covered with blankets. I think the pictures say it all- the looks on their faces were priceless. They were thrilled!