Back to basics.

Well the reli's are all gone home now so it is back to things as normal. If you can call eating protein at every meal and drinking beer and eating chocolate in tandem normal. We had a wonderful two days and I am sure there are other blogs out there with sledding videos and other such things that I did not manage to capture images of, but here is what we have.

Everyone arrived on Christmas Eve day in the afternoon. We broke into the stocked bar fridge right away and had a nice evening.
Mom broke out some tortiere [sic] and the wife laid on a salad and some fried shrimp and veggies. Mmmm good. There were some chocolates out and one of my sisters made these little things called hedge hogs. Now when I picture hedge hogs I picture the little chocolates by Purdys. However, the hedge hogs we, or more likely I, spent the last three days scarfing down were marshmallows dipped in caramel and then rolled in rice crispies. A delightful addition to the sweets table, a tradition that I hope endures for the rest of my Christmases.

Well after eating we watched some movies and then the kids headed off for bed. Actually the movie theme this year was Harry Potter. We watched all five movies over the last week and 3, 4 and 5 were seen by our guests. Kind of a nice nightly ritual.

Anyways Christmas morning I and the wife were woken at 2:30, 5:00 and then for the last time at 6:52. We said we would wait for 7:00 but this was close enough. The daughter wanted me to point out that it was only her that did the waking up. The son slept through. Anyways, Santa had arrived during the night and the little ones were pretty much over the moon about having stockings and gifts.
They were not great about waiting to open the rest of their presents. We are cruel and wait for everyone to wake up and then open in rounds so that each present gets its due time. Lots of books and some toys, it was fabulous. I am dreading as they get older. A cashier I was talking to said her teenage kids were next to impossible to shop for. Santa will have his work cut out for him over the next 15-20 years. Should never have had that third child, well its too late now and I am sure the upside will be huge. Its not like I am going to be able to retire before I am sixty anyways. Might as well eh.

So on with the holiday. The monster, I mean turkey, went in the oven just after 10 and was done by about 6:00. 28 and a half pounds plus a couple more pounds of stuffing. The turkey was excellent even if I do say so myself. I really think brining the bird gives it a juiciness and richness of flavour that can't be beat. I am also thinking that if I never had a bird bigger then 20 pounds again it will be fine with me. 8 hours, give me a break. Fortunately, the wife laid on a pancake and sausage breakfast with fruit salad and even managed to come up with some leftovers for lunch. The kids had a bit of a skate in the afternoon and everyone else got out of the house for a bit, be it a walk or a drive everyone shook off some cobwebs and then we got right back to feasting. Standard family Christmas fare: turkey, sausage stuffing, roast potatoes, mashed turnip, brussel sprouts, gravy, bread sauce, and cranberry sauce. The wife also made a nice green salad. As usual my son was really interested in the drum stick. It was a little out of his league but he seemed to enjoy gnawing on the bone. After the feast we sat down to the gift exchange and another movie. With only six involved in the gift exchange there wasn't much stealing and in the end I believe everyone ended up with the gift they opened. There were some tradesies afterwards but all in all I believe everyone walked away happy.

Boxing day saw us get up, fill up on turkey leftovers and head out for some sledding. We joined up with some other friends of ours who were up from Victoria and had a great time even if it was a little cold. We returned home for some more leftovers, chocolate, beer and a nap before heading to a party at the sledding friend's parent's house. You guessed it, more great food, more beers some lively conversation and by five o'clock we were pooped. We came back home and to my surprise no one had dinner. So we sat down for HP 5 and ate some more chocolates and drank some more beer. That night the sisters had some late night leftovers and then boom. It was 7:30 this morning and the relatives were out the door. It was a whirlwind of eating and drinking and catching up. The sisters who couldn't make it with the spouses were all dearly missed. But that is life I guess. A friend who I was talking to while our kids were sledding before everyone arrived commented on how this was happening with his family. He really hit the nail on the head when he said that we have to start creating the new traditions for our families. We cannot look to our parents anymore. Their our kids so it is our time to step up.

Oh yeah we got a DVD player from some really important people to us and watched a video on it last night. The viewing experience was excellent and we wanted to say a big thank you to them. Love.