Christmas 2007



The hectic part of the holidays are over and we can now relax until January 2. Sean and I are very fortunate to work for the university, so we get over a week off for the break. We traveled to Newtown, PA on Thursday night to visit Sean's grandmother, dad, cousins, and siblings. And then we went to Emmaus, PA on Saturday morning and spent the day with Sean's other grandparents, aunt & uncle, and cousins. It was a whirl wind tour as usual, but fun. Kate had a great time playing with cousin Zachary in Newtown. Unfortunately, she came down with a stomach bug on Saturday and spent the day throwing up. :( Aunt Charlene and Alice took good care of her and helped her open her presents. She was much better by Sunday morning, and we came home and started getting ready for Christmas day.

Christmas eve, we attended a nice service at the UU, Kate left out a cookie, some carrots, and some water for Santa (she wanted him to have nutritious choices), we read our new version of A Night Before Christmas (really cool cut paper illustrations), and she headed to bed.

I woke up Christmas morning at 8:30 to a quiet house! Kate finally got up at 9, and we woke up the rest of the household. We quickly opened presents and then I jumped up to get the turkey in the oven by 10:30. While I was a bit stressed cooking my first turkey, it turned out to not really be that difficult, and we had a wonderful day with my parents, Sarah, Ellen, Zoe and Grace.

On the menu: roast turkey (cooked with lemon, thyme, onion and garlic inside (although I put it in the wrong cavity - oops!), cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, romaine, pear, gorgonzola and walnut salad, cranberry sauce, black olives, fresh dilly rolls, pecan pie and chocolate meringue pie. Yummy!