Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Good morning and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!

“When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.” Matthew 1: 24-25

This is my favorite holiday and I’m so thrilled to be able to share it with all of you! Even though times are pretty tough for most of us right now with the horrible economy, we have to remember just how blessed we are to have the necessities: family, home, FOOD, friends, electricity…..the list could go on. I’m as guilty as the next as getting caught up in the superficial aspect of the holiday but I think that especially this year I, at least, am humbled by the act of giving when money is tight.

Here is my family!

My other family 🙂

Last night was soooo wonderful having my mom’s good friend Margaret come over with her family. Margaret is one of 13 children and her mom died on Christmas Eve when she was 16….can you even imagine?! Her family always comes in from out of town (california and canada!) to be with each other on Christmas and last night they were just going to go to a restaurant for dinner!!! No way jose….everyone came over and we had a wonderful time of laughter, great food and company.

My mom made delicious blue cheese dip with cranberries and toasted pecans:

There was also some unpictured baked brie with pecans…..oops! I had two crackers with the brie spread on I think…hehe

And dinner! Oh man…was it ever amazing!

Margaret’s “christmas” salad—mozzarella with tomato and basil, spicy baked shrimp, lowfat broccoli casserole (out of Cooking Light), peppered beef tenderloin and a roasted new potato.

Two glasses of sparkling wine were drank during appetizers and about one glass of cab during dinner. 🙂

And then I brought out the dessert!

French walnut cake with honey thyme ice cream!

My plate:

It was a HUGE hit, needless to say! The cake was incredibly simple to make and was leavened by egg whites, like angel food cake. No butter, oil or shortening was used—-just ground walnuts, flour, organic sugar, whipped egg whites and whole walnuts. The perfect presentation when dusted with powered sugar!

Gifts came later in the night….I have the best parents ever!

New blackberry curve—LOVE it

and………(shrieks with joy)

GAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been wanting a KitchenAid for YEARS. Seriously. My whole life I have been cooking/baking with a handheld beater circa 1984 and this is pretty much the best thing ever to me. I told Ryan and he goes, “well we don’t even have to get married now….you just got everything you wanted!” Haha. Right. Meaning I have an entire gift registry already planned out in my nogin. 😉

This morning I slept in until around 8:00 then went downstairs and made breakfast….a waffle sammie with cinnamon peanut butter, preserves and a banana

My mom is making a later brunch of scrambled eggies and homemade cranberry walnut orange bread (made by yours truly) around 11 before I have to leave for the airport.

So, I will be up in the mountains until Sunday….we are getting in around 4 this afternoon and I’ll be there with Ryan’s entire family. I am so blessed to be able to share the holiday with not one, but two families now! The only “issue” is that we are WAY up the mountain (45 minutes north of Asheville) and there is zero cellphone/internet service. I’ve been thinking about what to do and I decided to just take a little vacation for the weekend. I’m going to photograph EVERYTHING and then do a HUGE recap on Sunday when I get home. I hope you all don’t mind too much!

I’m off to take a shower and finish packing now. I hope each of you have a very blessed holiday and I will be back on Sunday!

God Bless