Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas 2008 (Part I)

Well, here we are....Christmas 2008...and it was surely a magical one, with more family, love, laughs, and sodium than you could shake a stick at. I cooked up a storm this Christmas, Amanda would say, and not the least of which was my Toutiere Pie, which is a classic "Maine/Christmas/French Canadian" dish whose secret family recipe is more guarded than Club Gitmo. Yet, using my charm, I was able to cull a recipe or two from the "real" Mainers (and French Canadians) at WHS....and I have to say it was absolutely delicious; I'll probably make it once a week through the winter. On Christmas day, George made a scrumptious fish chowder (despite what Lynne says!!!), and, as usual, outdid himself with the snacks. On Christmas Eve, we hosted our annual dinner celebration, and I made a prime rib (purchased on QVC....that's for you Aunt June!), as well as a new recipe I tried for creamed spinach. Amanda made some delicious cheesy potato casserole, and all was delicious
Grandpop "performed" his annual reading of "The Night Before Christmas," reading EVERY single word of the book VERBATIM (publishing information, bar code numbers, other selected titles. And, as usual, we were all heavily engaged..... And of course Callum enjoyed his delicious Christmas Eve dinner of pureed carrots mixed with mommy-milk....Uncle Jon got to feed him for the first time, and as you can see from the smile, Callum enjoyed his new dinner friend....



And here's the dinner table with Lynne, George, Amanda, and Jonathan (Ensign is in NJ, and Mel is up in East Bum with her family). One thing I can't help both noticing and missing is the absence of our dear Mister Thomas P. Cat, who left us this fall; his bemoaning for table scraps was always a Christmas Eve dinner tradition.....



One special part of the day was a visit from Amanda, a former student of mine who always drops by on her breaks. Callum just loves her....she's his college girlfriend; and he loves the little Santa hat she gave him.


Now I'm looking forward to hanging out outside in all my new Carhartt stuff, making pot roast in my new cast iron Dutch oven, and riding at night with my new ultra-bright bicycle headlights!
Merry Christmas....and more to come....


4 comments:

Michelle Garner said...

Hey guys! Thanks for your message tonight - and your posting on the blog. After we got back from my grandparent's house, Mike hung out with me for a bit, and then I started watching some movies - I feel like I've caught a cold or something. Anywho, I got your message around 10pm, but I wasn't sure if that was too late to call - apparently not! :) Your Christmas sounds like it was fantastic - we can't wait to see you guys, and we'd love to have you over. Let us know what your schedule is like, and we'll make plans. We'll be around tomorrow...might be going to see a movie in the afternoon, but we're not sure. Miss you guys! And yes, Jared, Chris still likes you. ;)

Michelle Garner said...

P.S. I think Amanda and her Fiestaware collection ROCKS, and George is so cool.

Anonymous said...

hey!! I'm connected to the internet at the hotel we now have to stay at so I just wanted to say hi and Merry Christmas! I can't wait to finally see you guys and have our little gift exchange.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Nannie wants to know where is her photos of her and Callum..............

I thorougly enjoyed my grandson this weekend, and can't wait to see him again.

I miss him already, He was such a good boy and we had a great time at our visit on Friday and Saturday....

I anxiously await part 2 of xmas blog....