Xmas dinner EXTRA SPECIAL

[SandraC]

Hi, I made little centre pieces for everyones plate who is coming for Xmas dinner tomorrow (16 people). My plates are white and my colours are red and gold, very traditional. So I placed a white doily about half the size of the plate, and then put a smaller gold doily on the white one. On the doilies, there is a shining red candle, red candy cane, small curly gold ribbon and a gold round ornament. I was going to write on the ornament, but then I thought of this: I will have each person write a special wish on the ornament for the person seated across from them and give them the ornament. So everyone will leave with a special wish, from a special person, we will write the year on the ornament and the giver and reciever too! What a nice thing to put on a tree every year! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

[Baboo]

They sound lovely Sandra! i especially like the idea of writing on the ornaments. I hope that you and your family have a wonderful holiday!

 

[sammi]

Sounds great Sandra! Well it's now past dinner time and I'm waiting to hear how your fabulous dinner went?

 

[SandraC]

THX! IT'S OVER! Thank goodness! I certainly learned a lot! The Wish Ball went over great with exception to MIL who has no emotions and made ever excuse not to write on her ball, "it's too small" "I can't write with that pen" "the marker will smudge" I bought a special mark for the balls LOL! She had to write a wish for her grandson and could not do it. I announced that it was totally optional (one of my SIL is a Witness and doesn't celebrate Xmas) so I thought she shouldn't have to do it if she didn't want too. Guess what, she did and MIL couldn't! MIL finally wrote, "TO David, FROM Grandma 2001" Nice eh? LOL!

I went to way too much trouble. Next time I will make a ham and veggie casseroles, EASIER stuff!

I loved the Disney Parade this morning!

My kitchen in a mess ~ dh is cleaning ~ I should go help! THANKS TO EVERYONE TO THESE BOARDS ~ sometimes you are all my only sanity LOL! CHAT SOON! S

 

[CindyAnn]

Glad to hear it all went well, Sandra, but it sure is a lot of work, isn't it? Glad your DH is helping out with the clean-up. We're now at the if-it's-not-done-now-it-will-wait-until-tomorrow stage of the day, and hope to have a chance to sit down together in a moment. The children are exhausted and were in bed an hour ago, thank goodness. I think they're almost as excited tonight as they were last night!

You take care Sandra, and if you're stuck with Christmas dinner for a bunch next year, why not make it pot luck? You do the turkey and the guests bring everything else!

 

[SandraC]

Hi Cindy Ann, how did Xmas go for your family? Yeah, my kids crashed too. I am really tired too. Did you get to see the Disney Xmas Parade, I liked it very much! It was like a vacation planning video PLUS MORE! dh and I are already talking about next time we have to do Xmas dinner. I think I'll do ham! LOL! We had a great days, but the last 45 mintues was nuts! Between cooking veggies and re-heating dry turkey and was running around so much I didn't even get to change my clothes. I had a great new Xmas outfit, but instead I ran around in overalls and bare feet, it was kinda fun! What are you doing New Years Eve? Never even thought about New Years Eve until today, we'll stay home, kids are so young. dh has next week off, so we'll go to NF for 3 days/2 nights, the Hilton has a special. We are combining MIL and ds bday party at RFC in NF so we'll stay the weekend. Have a peaceful night! Chat soon! S

 

[CindyAnn]

Hi Sandra - Christmas was just fantastic this year. I did something I've always wanted to do, and DH and I surprised the children with a trip to Disney World (leaving Jan. 4th). It was their very last present to open, and a joint one, and it took them quite a while to get it. DH had taped an itinerary to the lid of the box, and we'd included little Disney toys for them, some Disney dollars and a couple of fake "tickets". They were pawing through everything, and we kept saying "look at the LID" and DS (8) kept saying "Yeah, but what's this calendar thing?" and then we kept saying "just READ it". He finally clued in and started screaming, and telling his sister, but DD was more interested in how to get the Cinderella alarm clock to work, LOL.

At the end of the day, we asked them what their favourite presents were. DS screamed "The last one of course! I can hardly wait to go!" while DD's response was "My favourite gift was my Harry Potter lego". Oh well, that was $12 well spent, it seems. I guess their reactions just reflect different ages and different personalities.

My Mom spent the night Christmas Eve so it was just the 5 of us for Christmas dinner. We kept it very simple by making lots of stuff ahead of time on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, in all the chaos I completely forgot to tape the Disney parade. Next year!

We always spend New Year's Eve with our best friends and their 3 children, usually eating Chinese food and having a very low-key time. We're often home and in bed long before midnight, though, I have to admit.

Niagara Falls sounds like fun. We've taken nice 3 day breaks there at March break, too, and the Rainforest Cafe is always fun. Do you think you'll pop across the border to shop? Have you ever visited the Butterfly Conservatory? All of us have enjoyed it a few times, now.

See you later Sandra. Hope today is a little more relaxing for you!