Christmas Itinerary '09
Today:
Face up to my craven Christmas cookie fear and actually decorate them. (Yes, that's right. I haven't finished them yet. Sigh.)
Clean up resulting chaos.
Eat leftovers (made roast last night).
Christmas Eve:
Bake some kind of cake, recipe as yet unknown, for unexpected dinner guests. I'm thinking, like a cinnamon coffee cake? (Keith, though he is still officially going through inprocessing himself, has been put in charge of it, as everyone else is off on block leave. He met this young soldier who just came back from Korea and reunited with his wife, who was waiting for him with her family in another state. Together, they have absolutely nothing and have been here only five days. We gave them our extra furniture and invited them to dinner tomorrow. They're good people, a little younger than we are, with a toddler.)
Wrap gifts that Keith picked out for himself and has now forgotten ( Ha, btw. I am a clever, clever wife. All I had to do was convince him not to use the objects and after I hid them for a day, he forgot what they were.)
Prepare dinner meal:
Merlot or Sparkling Cranberry Cocktail
Cranberry Glazed Pork Loin Roast
Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
Yam and Apple Bake
Velvetta Broccoli or Green Beans saute with Sweet Onions
Some Kind of Cake and Sugar Cookies
Coffee
No one will be suffering from constipation after that meal, let me tell you. And I haven't done the Loin Roast before, so here's hoping it will come out right.
Christmas Morning:
Open gifts.
Prepare Christmas Breakfast:
Buttermilk Pancakes with maple syrup or cranberry glaze.
Maple Sausage
Maple Bacon
Tropical Fruit salad with fresh mangoes, kiwis, pineapple and oranges.
Orange juice and Coffee
Clean resulting chaos.
Bake Cranberry Orange Loaf for Keith's mother's Christmas and the brownies for the Double Chocolate Mocha Trifle that is destined for Keith's father's Christmas.
Make Pinapple and Pepperoni Pizza for a laid back Christmas dinner.
Collapse and drink cocoa.
Day After Christmas:
Finish Double Chocolate Mocha Trifle.
Drive up to Indiana and play a Yankee Gift Swap at Keith's mom's house.
Go immediately to Keith's father's house for massive dinner and probably some poker.
Return home and collapse.
Months later:
Still be trying to work off the extra Christmas weight.
After I figured out that for me, some of the best parts of celebrating Christmas are centered around good food, I decided to make sure and provide some. I have already done all my shopping and I feel this wonderful sense of peace and anticipation. As I wrote all this stuff out, though, I couldn't help but wonder if maybe I have a little too many cranberries on the menu this year.
