Christmas Day

So, I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. I know I did. It was great to spend time with family and visit. We had a very relaxing day...I didn't shower and dress until 2:30pm. We had a very yummy breakfast as Tim made Crepes...choices included a banana and Cabernet chocolate sauce, pear and chocolate sauce, creme freche and huckleberry syrup or jam or any other such combination. They were VERY good. We waited to open gifts after breakfast. Can you imagine the anticipation? Regardless everyone made out well. My contribution this Christmas was giving everyone a copy of IVANHOE by Sir Walter Scott. I sent it everywhere AND everyone got a copy in their stocking. I thought it was sooooo funny. Oddly only my father in law thinks he ever had to read it. I think everyone enjoyed their presents and the opening of presents. The other big news was that my sister-in-law and Tim's brother opened an envelope revealing the sex of their baby on Christmas morning for all to hear. We had all decided they were having a boy...and they ARE!! We are all excited and are starting to think of great names of boys. Oma suggested Hershell Twilliger...and of course I can't lie, the thought of more T names, specifically Tennessee and Texas came up. My brother in law said his father would disown him if he named his child Texas (my father in law's most hated state). We watched THE CHRISTMAS STORY, as Mark had never seen it and read all afternoon. Tim spent most of the day cooking. He made Cassoulet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassoulet for our Christmas dinner. It took a little longer than he anticipated but it was WELL worth the wait! He had hoped to make it before Christmas to test it out, but couldn't...and everyone thought it was good! He also took a duck breast, seared it and then coated it with honey and herbs and baked it...it was also really good. We topped off the meal with two bottles of red, Cloudline Pinot Noir and Sagelands blend of Cab, Merlot and Malbec...both good! For dessert, a gingerbread, pumpkin chiffon trifle with some left over creme freche. Also very tasty! We spent the evening watching some Northern Exposure and people were tired by 9pm...Tim and I stayed up and watched an episode of X-Files. It was a great day!