Sometimes Things Get A Little Wild

Last night after decorating the tree, John got down on the floor - I think to straighten the tree skirt or something. Libby sees this as an invitation to play "horsie". The other day saw a disasterous attempt to play horsie with Mama, so when Libby saw Papi on hands and knees, she scurried up onto his back in two shakes of a lamb's tail. The pictures are seriously blurry, but you can see just how much fun she is having!

When it came time for John to haul the boxes to the recycle dumpster, Libby and I took advantage of the opportunity to polish off the box of chocolates my mom sent from Chocolate Smiles (the best chocolate shop in the world, I promise, and it sits in downtown Cary for you NC-ites). Libby's hands and face got covered in chocolate. She was so happy!

I'm busy getting my menu prepared for Christmas. Here is what I have so far:

Christmas Eve-Eve dinner (I'll be working Christmas Eve, but the leftovers are just as good, so we'll have it twice):
Weinerschnitzel
Red Potatoes
Cucumber Salad
This is a traditional meal in John's family, thanks to their Czech heritage. This meal quickly made itself a tradition in my family as well. It's so good, even my sister Sarah loves it, which is saying a lot :)

Christmas Day Breakfast:
Creme Brulee French Toast
Egg Casserole
German Pancakes
Orange Juice
The first two are apaptations of my sister Lauren's recipe. So good, even John breaks his gluten-free diet to eat hers. I'll make ours gluten-free, though. The German Pancakes will be a first-timer. I'll let you know how they go.

Christmas Dinner:
Spiral-sliced ham rubbed with brown sugar
Scalloped potatoes (John's favorite)
Various veggies I haven't decided on yet
Homemade spiced cider

For snacking:
Fruit bars (another South tradition)
Cream cheese cookies (another experiment)

Most of our snacking will take place over New Year's weekend, with:
Chocolate-covered GF pretzels (homemade!)
Spinach dip
Veggies
Fruit
Cheese and sausage on rice crackers (for John - Ritz crackers for me!)
Seven-layer dip
Sparkling grape juice (courtesy of my VT's)
Anything else we can come up with in the next week

Wanna come over?