Christmas Wrap-Up 2009

Well this year we decided to have Christmas at Mom's. It just seemed easier, but I put up a tree anyway and did a little light decorating.

And we decided this year on an Italian Christmas (meaning spaghetti and the sides.) Last year I think we did Mexican. Mom was doing Baked Spaghetti and I did roasted green beans and garlic bread, salad with Olive Garden salad dressing, and I decided to bring a gingerbread cake for dessert. Woodrow and I baked it together. He also helped me make some animal treats. He's never helped me in the kitchen before, so this was a first.

We started in the kitchen on making some Savory Cheese Treats and Salmon Tidbits for cats (using the recipe for Tuna Tidbits but replacing the tuna for salmon that I had on hand).

Then we went ahead and baked the Gingerbread Cake. Woodrow seemed to enjoy helping me do this. He'd never helped me cook before.
The cake had pretty good flavor, but was a little dry to me. I only baked it for 45 minutes (when it said to bake it for an hour). So I was surprised that it came out a little dry. But it was pretty good on Christmas warmed up with whipped cream on top!

Then I took a break from Christmas stuff to make dinner. I had decided that I needed to use up some veggies that I'd bought at the farmer's market the weekend before. Hmmmm. Corn on the cob, red peppers, onion. What to do? Sounds like fine makings for fried corn to me!
Then I decided to saute up some baby portabellos and make a red wine sauce, and serve that over steak.
I had chosen a really lean steak (because I'm trying to watch what I eat, and there are so many other temptations to deal with at Christmas!). So the steak was kinda tough. But the fried corn! Oh my! Yes! Yes! Yes!

After dinner I made some Everyday Biscuits for dogs. We used cookie cutters to cut them into cute shapes.
The dog biscuits turned out cute, and Mom's dog Katy loved them! I also made some for a family friend and his dog Mya. I packaged them and the cat treats into cute boxes for gifts, and kept some for myself.

After the dog biscuits were done, I was finally free to sit down and opened a few gifts. I opened my Secret Santa gift that I got on the Book Blogger Holiday Swap, and I opened my gift from my boss. I was wonderfully surprised to find that my boss had given me an engraved silver business card holder filled with gift cards...
Wow! I did NOT expect that! I used the Home Depot card today to help with the painting supplies for painting my bedroom this week.

At one point I looked over and saw this...
Ahhhh, yes. All is well with the world when there is peace among the cats.

Once everything was done, I took a few minutes to try my hand at Hot Buttered Rum. This was something that I had never done before.
Yum! Yet very, very fattening and high caloric. Oh well. It's only once a year, right?

After the buttered rum, I had to call it a night. It had been a long, long day, and Christmas was going to be another one.

Christmas found me at Mom's. She had set up a small table tree and other decorations.
Mittens enjoyed the sunroom, as she always does...
...and Katy enjoyed the new hamburger toy that she'd gotten, even using it as a pillow.
Mom and Tommy and I opened our gifts.
Mom made me a homemade card that I loved! It came complete with a bookmark.
She underestimates how good she is at this kind of stuff. I keep telling her that she ought to consider opening up a little online shop.

Woodrow came by later and enjoyed dinner with us. The Baked Spaghetti was very good, and it was just what Tommy wanted!

It was a really nice day, if a long and tiring one. Thank God this is only once a year!