First of all, it was our first Christmas in our house together, so of course, we needed a tree! Since we are poor, my mama helped us out and bought everything for us- a tree and tons of ornaments! I seriously couldn't ask for a better mama. We forgot to get a star though, so Nick and I went out and found the PERFECT star!
We got totally spoiled. On Christmas Eve, we went out to lunch with our good friends, Oliver and Jen Cummings, Eric and Heather Sanders and Jere Cummings. It was great to catch up finally over some awesome sushi!
Then we went to my family's party, which is always interesting. Luckily however, no one fought this year!
But the important stuff came later.
We went to my parent's house to do Christmas (as we would be spending Christmas day with Nick's family), and we got SPOILED! Our loot consisted of 2 movies, 1300pcs of legos, a puzzle, an awesome compass for Nick (the legos were for him too), toys for me, a necklace, money, gift cards for groceries (which i never realized would be so important) and the big prize....
drum roll please......
A KITCHENAID MIXER!!!!!! My parents are WAAAAY too generous!
Then it was time to give them their gift- considerably smaller, but I was still proud of it.
I made them some really cool wall art to hang in their living room! It is silhouettes of trees with layers of texture over them, so they no longer look like photos. It's a set of three tall skinny ones to be framed. They LOVED it, which made me quite happy!
We got home around 11 and abandoned the idea of making cookies for the following day. Shortly after midnight, Nick said we should open gifts! So we did!
We did a smaller christmas this year to save money. Earlier in the month, we spent a wonderful night in Park City in a fabulous hotel suite! So for Christmas day, we just decided to do stockings.
I packed Nick's with stuff to keep him occupado while on the graveyard shift- silly putty, card games, an etch-a-sketch, candy, and a super cool RUSH dvd that we have yet to watch.
Nick got me stuff that was too big for my stocking, so he improvised and got me this BEAUTIFUL gift bag I'd seen and been mesmerized with at Pier 1 a few days before. It is crimson with super glittery crowns on it. Inside were two super cute sweaters (which I think by the way is amazing- he can pick out clothes for me better than my mom!) and Despicable Me (which I highly recommend)! How fun!
We spent the majority of Christmas day with Nick's family- oh so fun! We did presents as soon as we got there- we got a really cool candle holder from his parents that is made from sandstone- really unique, and Nick got a mountain climbing book from his brother Jon, and I got season two of Dexter from his brother, Karl! Oh exciting! I LOVE Dexter! (I'm glad a little birdy told Karl what to get me :) ).
After breakfast and a nap, I helped Nick's niece, Katie make necklaces and bracelets with the jewelry kit she got. (That little one is so adorable, I just can't get over her) We played games, and Nick's mom taught me how to make a tin foil star! It was a really good little bonding session for her and I, and I am so excited to know how to make them now!
Cool, Huh?
Anyway, I had a big meal planned so we left and went home to cook!
Back in October, my dad went pheasant hunting with friends, and I asked him to bring me back some. I decided that pheasant was close enough to a Christmas Goose!
I looked up recipes everywhere, and finally settled on one from Emeril. Roasted Pheasant with whiskey cumberland sauce.
I was so excited! You start with a bed of sliced oranges and fresh thyme, add the birds (who have been rubbed down with whiskey) and wrap them in bacon. Bake for 45 mins, and make the sauce which had cherry jelly, orange juice and more whiskey. I also made stuffing and butternut squash risotto!
The dinner came out AWESOME! I was so excited to serve it to Nick! It tasted amazing (even though we are dumb and got grapefruit instead of oranges :P )
Before it went in the oven
Yay for Christmas dinner!
After dinner and a bit of cleanup, we decided it was time to break out the new legos! I haven't played with legos since I was a kid, and it was so fun to sit down and build stuff! We put a movie on in the background, and went to town with our awesome legos! I built a castle complete with a moat, a yard with a tree and a wall, and Nick built a stellar tower with different levels and "architectural elements" :) It was a blast! Who says you have to be a kid to play with legos?
You wish your Legos were as cool as ours :)
Christmas was soooooo good! I didn't want to go back to work on Monday! Time goes by so fast!
Next up is New Years Resolutions!
Dani!
ReplyDeleteyou look so happy! Glad you had a good Christmas! That Christmas pheasant looks pretty good too, I'll have to try that recipe out. Jason loves to hunt pheasant, he'll be happy if I actually cook one one of these days!