Christmas fun...and some tears!

What would Christmas be without the annual "silly dog" picture??  They almost made it without having us snap the picture, but then on Christmas Eve I remembered.  Baxter, not a problem.  I swear he knows what the camera is and puts on his best face.  Max tolerates it and Molly, our newest addition (the miniature schnauzer) hates the camera.  She scurries away when I reach for it...

It's as if he's saying "cheeeeese"...

Max is saying "can we have a treat?"

...all three...look at Baxter in the middle, just perfect for the camera!!  What a ham!!

I had to snap a photo of this lovely card my Mother's friend Prudy sent.  She purchased it in England!

What would Christmas be without my Mother in Laws homemade bread (here she is making it)......

 ...and the annual Christmas Poinsettia...

We sent some bags of Cinnamon Churro Puppy Chow in to the USO on Christmas Eve...

Cinnamon Churro Puppy Chow
9 cups (1 big box) rice chex
1 stick butter
Cinnamon Chips (near the chocolate chips)
4 or so cups confectioners sugar.
Pour the cereal in a huge bowl, melt the butter and chips in a microwave stirring every so often until completely melted.  Pour over the cereal and toss (best to use your hands) until each piece is covered, then have someone pour the confectioners sugar on while you continue to toss.  This is DELICIOUS and a great alternative to the chocolate peanut butter one.

Christmas Eve tradition in our house is just that...tradition.  I asked my boys if we could do something different.  Well, you'd have thought I was an alien.  Things must be done!!  And to suggest something different is just not right.  As I think I may have mentioned before in another post, we have finger food goodies and watch "A Christmas Story" while Mom usually is working on a puzzle.  Sometimes a game is played, sometimes not, it's really just about being together.  Every year I have to make the Christmas morning sticky buns.  The hardest part about these is finding the little frozen rolls.  This year I found them while shopping for Thanksgiving, so I snatched them up then.  I make them before we go to bed, then cover with foil and they rise all night.  

Even though my boys are grown, we still make them go to bed (even though they are probably up till 3 ) and that's when we "fill the tree".....

Of course, having grown sons means you can put something a little different under the tree.  I found this great cabernet with my son's name on it.  He's still relatively new with wine and likes the sweet stuff but I told him to save it for years until he likes the better (in my opinion) stuff....

...and of course there are still stockings to be stuffed....

The good thing about having your kids grown is that they sleep a bit later.  When they were kids I swear it was every hour starting at 3 am......."can we get up now".  This year we made it to 7:30.....

But the first thing for me to do was pop those sticky buns in the oven.  Then coffee and gifts and by the time we were done, they were ready  They never disappoint! 

 Before any of us open a gift, see who has to have their Christmas treats....

After that Baxter was bored.....

Then when everyone is playing with their new gifts it's my time to make dinner.  Mom always set a nice table for the holidays when we were growing up.  I feel that the holidays are special.  Even though we don't have guests come over for dinner, it's just us, I still like to set a nice table.  I think it's something my boys might carry on as well.....at least I hope...

Lots of goodies were made, there was almost a catastrophe with the Christmas roast, but we managed to save it.....and what would Christmas be without pecan pie....

I'm not sure if it was the weather (we have had unseasonably warm temps) and there is no snow, but on Christmas Eve I was afraid I didn't have much Christmas Spirit.....I just wasn't feeling it...........but, somehow, once it gets dark and everyone is around...we are all together...the Christmas lights are on, you have the special foods, everyone is wrapping last minute gifts...you can't help but feel it....that special feeling.  The kids are grown now, so it's different, but it's still special.  I have thought a lot of the past few days of my Father and Father in law and how much I miss them, and my grandparents.  Yea, things are different.  I think the holidays always make us each feel a little loss, the loss of family members, the loss of not having little children around.  Things are different.  As we were finishing opening gifts I got a little teary.  Of course my boys and husband always highlight it by asking "why are you crying"...."what set you off"...."was it my card that made you cry", but what I couldn't tell them was that they were tears of joy.  Things are different, but I was just happy that we were all together.  My Mom is here, my Mother in Law came up from Mass., my husband was home (no more deployments) and my boys were home, I was happy, they were happy tears. Men don't understand that stuff so I just didn't say anything, plus I would have cried harder and we all know about "the ugly cry"!!  So, with that, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and recognized that even though things aren't like they use to be, the special moments can still be there, we just have to find and appreciate them.  

I want to say "hello" to Betty in Taunton.  My mother in law tells me that you follow my blog religiously.  I'm flattered that you take the time to read about what's happening in my life and at The Old Tattered Flag.  Speaking of that, Betty and everyone, I hope you will come back tomorrow to see some of the goodies we got for Christmas and as usual I give Mom some new designs for the upcoming year.  I'll show them tomorrow.......I promise.  Have a good night everyone and.....

Until next time......