Merry Christmas Eve!

Wow! I think Christmas gets better every year! We couldn't wait for Christmas Eve this year with the Burdicks. We had the best time! This year's menu included Paula Deen's cheeseball and baked brie for appetizers. Can I say how delicious they were? Thankfully we saved a little room for the main event: green salad, 14 layer jello, and homemade pizza...also very good.

After a great Christmas program of Music & the Spoken word (including the ringing of our own bells with the choir!!), the Christmas story, the kids leaving food for the reindeer and Santa, we headed for dessert. We had Baked Alaska this year...so easy to make and super-cool! We browned the meringue with a blow-torch and tried unsuccessfully to light the rum...oh well. For the curious: you put a clean half-eggshell on top of the dessert, pipe meringue around it, and fill with rum. When you're ready to serve it, you light the rum on fire for an impressive effect! But our rum wouldn't light...maybe we shouldn't have kept it in the freezer. Anyway, the layered cake and ice cream below all the meringue was so good!

And a note on this year's pj's: When we were little, my mom dressed us by color: My older sister wore red, I got blue and little sis Erica got green...so this year's pjs follow the tradition: Grant is red, Blake is blue, and little Hayden is green! So cute! So anyway, here's a slideshow for the Grandma's and Grandpa's and friends far away:

Well, the children are snuggled all tight in their beds and visions of letters and numbers dance in their heads...Santa has come and their toys are all ready! We can't wait until tomorrow! We hope you have a wonderful Christmas day!