Twas the night before Christmas, and all thru the land,
the people were happy and gay,
At least I assume so, they’re all speaking Spanish,
And I can’t understand what they say!!!
¡Feliz Navidad!
We had a lovely Noche Buena here tonight, just the family. We’ve now got a new two-year traditional Christmas meal going; Ednalyn made her slowly-becoming famous Zacatecas-style Stuffed Roasted Chicken, which was served at our Christmas Party in VA last year. I roasted some winter vegetables, and Lisa made her WorldBeating Pecan Pie, and the girls were just barely behaved enough that we were able to eat it with some leisure, and much pleasure.
Christmas Eve Dinner
The veggies were easy and delicious; just fingerling potatoes, carrots, red onion, and brussels sprouts drizzled with garlic-and-thyme-flavored olive oil and roasted in the oven for an hour. The cheese is a local gorgonzola, a delightfully stinky spanish-style blue cheese. It’s on the table because of that last unidentified thing – the rectangular yellowish lump that looks kind of like a slab of butter you’d be wise to throw in the trash. It’s actually an English Fruitcake. Lisa participates every year in a Christmas Ornament Exchange program with some “invisible friends” that co-inhabit a web chat/sharing site. You get assigned a person to send an ornament to, and some other person gets assigned to send one to you. We’ve gotten some neat things thru the years, and given some neat ones too. Some of the folks feel inclined to send some other stuff along too, especially if they’re from OTUS (Outside the US). This person is living in the UK, so in addition to the nifty reindeer ornaments she added 4 traditional British Christmas Crackers, which we’ll open tomorrow, and the pictured fruitcake, with a very funny letter accompanying the whole package. The fruitcake is covered with marzipan, which is why it looks funny, but UKgirl said it’s good with Stilton cheese. That not being available, we got the gorgonzola, and she was right – a good combo.
The pie caused a bit of consternation: We wanted to wait a bit after dinner before having the pie; so we did. In the meantime, Ginny ran off with YaYa to have her bath, and came back out, to watch her favorite song videos with Daddy, which is a distraction for getting her teeth brushed. Teeth well-brushed, she entertained herself with toys and stuff prior to bedtime. ’Til DumDum Daddy broke out the pie – before Ginny went to bed, but AFTER she’d had her teeth brushed – and refused to give her any, cuz of the teeth thing. That didn’t go over so good. Probably should have waited til she went to bed. My dreams shall be haunted by Ginny’s voice wheedling “Moh? Moh??” Moh = More. As in, More Pie. LOTS More Pie. Sometime tomorrow, that little girl is getting a big ol’ piece of pecan pie.
Tomorrow morning should be fun – Ginny still doesn’t fully grok Christmas, but she gets into the spirit of things a bit, and I know she’ll enjoy some of the things she’ll open tomorrow. Next year I think will be the Big Deal, when we can really sell the Santa Claus thing, and the cookies and milk and all that stuff.
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!
