Christmas Day 2019 - What a Wonderful Christmas

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Quiet Christmas morning. 

Drank Bloody Mary's as I continued to clean the house and get it decorated for company this afternoon. 

More tchotchkes to set out...

Finally finished decorating the tree. 

As I got the house ready, Dale worked on the turkey. 

I don't think we've made one for about 5 years. Dale has really become quite the turkey-meister. 

As I finished up my tasks I was overtaken by a rather touching sentimentality while listening to the above song. It's not a real common Christmas Carol but I've come to love it quite a bit.

Athena's sweetness is alway appreciated around here. 

She ga lot of walks, attention, and rest today. She blends in with the chair in the above picture so I put a label next to her. 

After getting cleaned up I tended to getting the sweet potato casserole, my one contribution to Christmas dinner, ready to go. 

This was my first ever effort at the task and Mom, who's been making it for years, was horrified to find out I'd be using canned sweet potatoes. She was pleasantly surprised to discover it turned out GREAT (if I do say so myself) and she said as much. 

Our dinner guests, Mom, John, and Noel, started showing up around 3 p.m. which is about the time the turkey came out of the oven to rest. 

It turned out to be a lovely Christmas. The house looked great, the food was fantastic, and, I believe,  a great time was had by all.

I finished out the day with a little Irish cream. 

Christmas Eve 2019

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

It's been a rather quiet and low-key day so far. Dale went to the gym this morning while I stayed home and did a little more work decorating the tree. I also got some preliminary cleaning done as we're having, Mom, John, and Noel over tomorrow for Christmas Day dinner. 

Got Athena on a nice walk. She's sleeping like a baby now. The weather is unseasonably mild. We're at 38 degrees as I write this.

Dale and I went grocery shopping at Kowalski's yesterday but went again this afternoon for some last minute items. I'm making a sweet potato casserole for tomorrow. Mom was a little disappointed to find out I'm using canned sweet potatoes but I convinced her to cut me a little slack as it'll be my first effort.