Monday, December 25, 2017
Christmas Day 2017 - Merry Kiltmas
Monday, December 25, 2017
I wore my kilt for Christmas Day dinner.
So nice to spend the day with Mom and Day.
Mom brought over chocolate covered cherries which were always Dad's favorites.
Christmas Day 2017 - Beef
Monday, December 25, 2017
To start, my job was to slice the onion.
Dale got the meat dried off with paper towels.
Dale got the stove set up.
I cut six (they're doubled up in the photo) good sized slices of bacon into thirds.
Dale had the brilliant idea of each of us frying the bacon off at the same time. I used the skillet and he used the casserole.
Then we did the same thing with the meat, searing it on all sides. I'm surprised one of us hadn't thought of this before since it made it go twice as fast.
When it came back out we added garlic,
thyme,
the wine,
brought it to a simmer and then put it in the oven for about 2 and a 1/2 hours.
As it got closer to the time to take it out, Dale fried off the mushrooms.
When it came out of the oven,
we drained off the broth,
put what was left back in the casserole,
and added the fried off mushrooms to the casserole.
Dale needed to boil down the approximately 3 and a 1/2 cups of broth we had down to 2 and a 1/2 cups. He said it probably started out as 5 and a 1/2 cups when we put the whole casserole in the oven and reduced to the 3 and a 1/2 we had when we took it out.
After the broth was reduced, Dale skimmed off the fat although there wasn't much since the beef was pretty lean to begin with. We added the broth back to the casserole and waited for it to rest a bit. The smell was insanely divine.
Mom came over for Christmas dinner. She got here at 3:00 p.m. and we watched The Bishop's Wife serving appetizers of smoked gouda, pears, and crackers.
and added the fried off mushrooms to the casserole.
Dale needed to boil down the approximately 3 and a 1/2 cups of broth we had down to 2 and a 1/2 cups. He said it probably started out as 5 and a 1/2 cups when we put the whole casserole in the oven and reduced to the 3 and a 1/2 we had when we took it out.
After the broth was reduced, Dale skimmed off the fat although there wasn't much since the beef was pretty lean to begin with. We added the broth back to the casserole and waited for it to rest a bit. The smell was insanely divine.
Mom came over for Christmas dinner. She got here at 3:00 p.m. and we watched The Bishop's Wife serving appetizers of smoked gouda, pears, and crackers.
We ate around 5 p.m. with the beef over egg noodles. Dale made brussels sprouts in the oven. Pumpkin pie for dessert.
Christmas Eve 2017
Sunday, December 24, 2017
Sent the above picture to Sam and Pete.
Sam texted back that they got a white Christmas. I texted back that that's pretty good for Kansas.
Pete texted back that they are doing cheese fondue at their house.
Monday, January 2, 2017
Christmas 2016 - Christmas Morning and Merry Kiltmas!
Sunday December 25, 2016
Dale was awake when I got up. We had a quiet Christmas morning of coffee and reading.
Last night, on Christmas Eve, I began a ghost story titled One Who Saw by A.M. Burrage. It was atmospheric and creepy to say the least. I've taken an interest in ghost stories for Christmas over the past couple of years beginning when we started telling personal ones at Noel's annual holiday fete a couple years ago.
And by the way, Merry Kiltmas!
Christmas Eve 2016
Saturday, December 24, 2016
I love Christmas and I love spending it with two of my most favorite people.
Christmas 2016 - Christmas Eve Service
Saturday, December 24, 2017
Lovely Christmas Eve service at Gethsemane. Dale sang in the choir and I was one of the three kings in the Christmas Pageant. Pictured with me is Mark, one of the other kings. I think we did a great job. My first Christmas pageant EVER!
Christmas Eve 2016 - Mom
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Dressed up before heading over to dinner at Mom's place.
Bought this cute little guy about 16 years ago from the school secretary at the school I was working at at the time. Her name was Tammy and she and her mom made these and sold them.
We had a wonderful time at Mom's. Her friend Lynn joined us and after appetizers we had cheese fondue and then filet mignon. She only made one batch of cheese fondue as last year Dale wrote her a post it note and put it on the cover of her cookbook to remind her. Lynn brought a mushroom mix to put on top of the steaks. She was horrified they shrunk as much as they did after putting them in the microwave for only a minute and a half. We all thought it was delicious none-the-less. She also brought a tiramisu cake for dessert which was very delicious, especially so because it was not overly sweet. Lynn also brought over a DVD of a fire in a fire place. The audio was of the crackling sound of a fire and also a loon calling in the distance. Dale was particularly taken with the video.
Mom's tree looked beautiful as usual.
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