For the first time since I have known my husband we spent the Christmas holiday with just our little family. And, I may go on record saying it was the best one we've ever had! We spend Christmas Eve cooking enough risotto, sweet potatoes, home made ravioli and pasta sauce and pumpkin pie to last for 2 days. I bought a 1/2 rack of lamb (8 chops), and we decided to make 1/2 on Christmas eve and 1/2 on Christmas day since it was just the two of us having the lamb. Christmas Eve we had Lamb Chops with Balsamic reduction, which was truly amazing, and Christmas day we had herbed lamb chops that were also very good (that was husband's choice and I don't have the recipe link).
Christmas day the kids were up at 5:30. Yes, FIVE THIRTY!!! We had to actually put a show on to make them wait until we felt like getting up since we had been up building things, watching the Sound of Music (my FAVORITE!!), and drinking a lovely Barolo that Santa delivered early. Anyway, we fought them off until about 6:45 and Christmas began. The baby woke up a bit later with a fever, but it wasn't anything a little motrin couldn't fix. We opened stockings, ate Christmas pop-overs and then opened gifts.
Since all that was over relatively quick and we didn't have any real plans for the day, we just sat around. The kids played with their new toys, my husband built his new fire pit, we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores, and I read a book. I didn't change out of my pajamas until noon, which is unheard of for me. We snacked on fruit and left-overs and called family. We fed the kids their dinner, put them to bed and then made the rest of our lamb chops. We ate a nice dinner in peace and quiet and marveled at what a nice two days we had. It was the most gloriously stress-free, relaxing day we've had as a family for a long time, maybe ever! If you've never spent a holiday with just your immediate family, I highly recommend it.
Of course, we missed our family, but we have never had a holiday to just ourselves and we really enjoyed it. The day after Christmas we headed to California on a plane, but that's a story for next time.
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Christmas day the kids were up at 5:30. Yes, FIVE THIRTY!!! We had to actually put a show on to make them wait until we felt like getting up since we had been up building things, watching the Sound of Music (my FAVORITE!!), and drinking a lovely Barolo that Santa delivered early. Anyway, we fought them off until about 6:45 and Christmas began. The baby woke up a bit later with a fever, but it wasn't anything a little motrin couldn't fix. We opened stockings, ate Christmas pop-overs and then opened gifts.
Since all that was over relatively quick and we didn't have any real plans for the day, we just sat around. The kids played with their new toys, my husband built his new fire pit, we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores, and I read a book. I didn't change out of my pajamas until noon, which is unheard of for me. We snacked on fruit and left-overs and called family. We fed the kids their dinner, put them to bed and then made the rest of our lamb chops. We ate a nice dinner in peace and quiet and marveled at what a nice two days we had. It was the most gloriously stress-free, relaxing day we've had as a family for a long time, maybe ever! If you've never spent a holiday with just your immediate family, I highly recommend it.
Of course, we missed our family, but we have never had a holiday to just ourselves and we really enjoyed it. The day after Christmas we headed to California on a plane, but that's a story for next time.
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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