look out martha

Ok, so I may not cook, bake and decorate as well as Martha Stewart, but I have to say that I did a pretty handy job yesterday cooking a bird and the fixins. More on that in a minute.

Christmas went very smooth. This is why it pays to plan ahead. Two years ago when we were in FW for Christmas with Scott's family it didn't go so well. Feelings got hurt and plans were being made last minute...there was just a lack of communication. I started planning for Christmas in September, well actually August with gifts, but September with the events of Christmas Eve and Day. I didn't want there to be any tears or sadness this time around. Scott and I decided to spend Christmas Eve together, just the two of us. Well, I ended up in the kitchen all day prepping for the next day while he was out doing last minute shopping. I had to be on call at the center on Christmas so I had to make everything ahead of time so if needed they could just pop everything in the oven for warming. We went to the candlelight service at our church on Christmas Eve and then went out to dinner. On our way to dinner we were talking about setting some Reasoner family traditions. I guess it would be easier to do that if we had kiddos, but it was fun to talk about. This was our third Christmas together since being married. I remember when us kids were little we used to get in our pj's and get all bundled up and drive around and look at Christmas lights in December. When we got home from dinner, Scott helped me make caramel corn, that is at least one tradition we have every holiday. By then it was close to midnight, but we decided to exchange our gifts. That could be a fun tradition to do at midnight each Christmas, but I can't imagine that would go over well with little ones. On Christmas morning we went to Scott's mom's house for a quick gift exchange and then on to his step sisters in Granbury. They live way out in the country with chickens. After lunch we headed back home to prepare our evening meal. Who really needs that much food in one day???

The menu for dinner last night consisted of:

• Roasted Stuffed Chicken
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Green Bean Casserole
• Salad - which I x'd and the last minute....just too much
• Pumpkin Pie
• and....Raspberry Tea
  

I have made green beans before, but everything else was new. Thanks to the internet, I got recipes for exactly what I wanted to make. Sometimes searching in cookbooks gets me nowhere. It all turned out pretty well after several phone calls to Mom...which in turn got me teased by the brothers! :( I even made a centerpiece with candles. I could have used about two more feet of countertop space, a double oven, and some of my serving platters that are in storage. All in all it was a joyous occasion.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Heidi sent me an email with some pictures of the kids. They are having a great times with Jacob's parents in Arkansas. Enjoy!