Monday, December 26, 2011

On the Second Day of Christmas . . .

We had a wonderful but quiet Christmas at home with just our family. It was great to have three of our four children home and we very much missed our older son who lives too far away to visit often. In the face of the economy, we were careful in our Christmas buying and put a lot of thought into each and every gift. It made the preparation for Christmas more meaningful for me as I put much of my own 'talents' into making gifts rather than buying them.

One friend, a fellow quilter, surprised me with a box of well-chosen, unique lengths of fabric. I am not excited to begin another quilt once the holiday celebrations calm down a bit.

No weird stuff happening at our 7:30 a.m. Mass, yesterday! We always have the quirks of one of the readers to contend with but the beauty of the Christmas hymns overshadowed the wannabe, female priests of the congregation. Also, one of our favorite Carmelite priests helped out with the Masses and gave his usual, excellent sermon.

We got a visit in the afternoon from friends who came with a plate of homemade cookies and gift card in hand.

Today, is our Christmas party and we will have 14 people at the dinner table. I fixed the three salads yesterday which frees up my time to put bread to rise and get the desserts done this morning.

My first attempt at a crown roast pork with apple stuffing went well. Anyone interested in checking out the recipe, can Google Anne Burell's recipe on the Food Network site. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-burrell/crown-roast-of-pork-recipe/index.html I highly recommend it as her instructions are perfect and you are guaranteed an excellent result. My daughter remarked, "Whatever you have cooking in the oven, smells fantastic, Mom!"

Hope everyone had a wonderful day of happiness, blessings, and celebration. Remember to keep the people who are suffering in poorer countries or ones under bad governments in your prayers. The way our government is going, we might need to be on that prayer list by next year! Now, THAT is a sobering thought! :-(

No comments: