The Eve of Christmas

I have done a lot today. Not because I had to, though if I didn't, it wouldn't have gotten done. I was really just trying to stay busy and keep my mind off the fact that tomorrow is CHRISTMAS!! I am 27 years old and still get giddy at the thought of Christmas morning. It's going to be hard to sleep tonight.

First up... get the turkey ready. I am planning a to roast a turkey in the oven for Christmas dinner-- something I've never done before. We usually fry a turkey because it's easy, incredibly delicious, and we have a fryer so why not use it? I have been searching online for the best way to do it so that the bird is moist and flavorful and the skin is brown and crispy. Everywhere online was talking about brining the turkey, whereby you soak it in a salt solution overnight. It's supposed to be to die for. Hopefully no one will die tomorrow from it though, I'd much prefer people just say, "wow that was yummy." So off to my local Pioneer Woman site to find the instructions-- you can't go wrong with the Pioneer Woman. Below is a picture of my version of her brine.... note, my picture is different than hers because this was taken after the orange peels sank to the bottom after boiling. The aroma in the kitchen this morning was heaven!

While I waited for the brine to cool down so that I could pour it over the turkey, I made some trash, and by trash, I mean homemade chex mix. It's such a yummy snack to have and when you make it yourself, you can change the chex to other stuff ratio. I prefer to go heavy on the worcestershire sauce and chex. I also only put pretzels and peanuts in my trash. By the time the trash was done, it was time to work on tonight's dinner. I didn't have the for thought to take a picture of this process, but I made the EASIEST pot roast in the crock pot, and it was soooooo delicious! In a nut shell, I combined one packet each of dry ranch dressing mix, brown gravy mix, and dry Italian dressing mix. Then I sprinkled that mixture over a 4lb. rump roast in the crock pot. Next I added 1/2cup water around the roast in the pot and turned the crock pot on low for 8 hours. Once it was ready, I just added 4tablespoons of corn starch to the juices and viola... gravy! Goodness, it was so good. I also made peas with a garlic butter sauce and potato rolls.


But before dinner, and after the Viennese Torte I tried to make went to hell, Matt and I took Weston to the park. It was such a beautiful day, slightly chilly, but comfortable. Matt got such a kick out of seeing Weston on the swings and slides, etc.







Also, since it IS Christmas Eve, I thought I'd share some of our festive decorations since I haven't done so yet.

This is the door that goes to our basement covered in the cards we got this year!

We bought these giant ornaments from the greatest store ever, Costco, and hung them in our foyer with ribbon

Christmas bells on our front door

The dinning room table set for Christmas dinner-- I even broke out the good china!

Our mantel

Danger baby playing precariously on his Thomas Train

Our tree decided to fall over tonight at the EXACT time I was putting dinner on the table. Fortunately, we only lost one ornament and, from what we can tell, no presents were injured in the tumble. This is what it looked like after we cleaned everything up....

...and this is what it looks like now, after Santa came.

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas tomorrow..... don't worry, I will post tons of pictures of Weston's first Christmas.... and my first turkey!