Christmas had been wet and rainy. I was okay with that. I have always liked the rain.

Christmas Eve:

I was the first to get up and stormed out to go shopping at our local grocery stores. Braving the weather and the madding crowd were the price I had to pay for very fresh food.

Nearly 3 grocery stores and 2 hours later, I came home with a slight headache. But it was all worth it. Just take a look at this beautiful all organic vegetable platter we had.

Hubby and the kids are all up gearing up for the party. With Christmas music playing in the background, and Christmasy scented candle flickering on the kitchen island, my headache went away without the assistance of medication.

This was the first time in years that we have had Christmas all to ourselves, and I intended to celebrate the holiday to its fullest, and hold nothing back.

In no time, fresh snack trays covered our kitchen island.

My kids would not settle for Christmas without Christmas cookies. This year, I decided to let them make their own Christmas cookies. I gave them a colorful pack of cookie Play-doh. The kids were gleaming with happiness. They put on their aprons, rolled up their sleeves, and went to work.

After two beautiful trays of cookies were put on the cookie sheet, they had even more fun decorating the cookies. Santa will be very pleased.

I had cooking duties for everyone. I quickly marinated the steaks and portobello mushrooms, and shipped hubby out to the BBQ grill in the backyard to perform his kitchen duty.

While in the meantime, I boiled three live crabs on the stove. Yes, we had steak and crabs for our Christmas Eve dinner.

It is our Christmas tradition to open one gift on Christmas Eve. The kids opened two each. They begged.

Much later that night, we went to Church to attend the Christmas Eve service. We don’t go to church often. But I have always loved Christmas eve service. I love all the Christmas music and songs they have on this very special occasion. Plus, it is okay to greet everyone with “Merry Christmas” at the church.

Christmas Day:

We woke up to pouring rain outside. Christmas was expected to be much the same as Christmas Eve. But not really.

With more Christmas music and scented candle in the background, my 12-year-old and I made a big pot of Sausage Corn Chowder first thing in the morning. We set the pot on the stove to simmer, then went on to arguably the best part of the holiday: opening all the presents.

It took over an hour to open the presents. They were spoiled rotten with the many gifts, we also like to take our time to wow and admire each and every gift.

About 90% of the presents under our tree were for the kids, but I got the gift I really wanted from Santa.

I have been good this whole year.

For Christmas Day dinner, I made a fabulous meal out of Cheese fondue. This was a peculiar choice, since I don’t much like cheese. But hubby and the kids love cheese. I am sometimes selfless like this.

Thanks to a Fondue recipe book, I bought cheeses that I do not know how to pronounce. I then prepared crusty bread, vegetables, a huge chunk of Canadian Bacon, ham, and chicken meatballs to go with the cheese fondue.

I served our Christmas day dinner early, at 3PM. Even I had to admit, it was yummy.

Feeling full, the kids decided it was time to play a round of board games.

We settled on the living floor, and played two rounds of board games. Then my 12-year-old convinced us to play a game she learned at school called, “Live cow, sleeping cow, dead cow”.

“Live cow, sleeping cow, dead cow” was the silliest stupid game ever. The kind of game where you most certainly will roll your eyes upon hearing the description of how the game is to be played, and the kind of game when you get down to play it, you will laugh until your stomach hurts.

So, the four of us hurled laughter at each other while rolling on our living floor. That worked up an appetite, and we went back to eating a second round of cheese fondue at around 5PM.

After feeling full a second time, we settle back into our family room and watched the last Harry Potter movie. When the movie ended, it was around 9PM.

Time for dessert!

I served chocolate fondue with fresh fruits and cookies.

Good thing we have New Years coming up. I have a resolution to make: lose some weight.

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Last weekend, we got this unexpected “Thank You” card from our offspring.

Thrilled, I immediately began to ponder which of my recent random acts of kindness occasioned such a noteworthy and formal show of appreciation.

I tore open the envelope, and the card read:

“Thank you for not killing us for no reason”.

It gave me a spectacular laugh. Let me explain…

I have a long obsession with TV crime shows. I have watched thousands of hours of CSI, Law and Order, The Mentalist, etc. In the recent months, I have also gotten hooked on Bio Channel’s numerous documentaries about notorious crimes and criminals, such as Killer Kids, Mothers Who Kill, Unusual Suspects, Women Behind Bars, 48 Hours, and such.

These shows are addictive. They are often fascinating, so, when the kids are around while I am watching one of these shows, they also became engrossed in it. They even ask me to pause the show often to explain certain matters to them.

Earlier on Saturday, we were watching a show about a man who killed his whole family, his wife, his 3 teenage children, and his elderly mother. Then changed his identity, got married again, and hid from authorities for 17 years before he was finally caught. The psychologist interviewed him in depth while he was in custody, and determined that he suffered no mental breakdown. He meticulously murdered his entire family over life’s minor disappointments.

These shows are almost always heinous and gruesome. I worried to myself often how these horrid shows might affect my young children. And now, I have my answer:

They make them VERY grateful!!!

As it was my husband’s turn to chuckle over this Thank You card, I said to him, “SUCH grateful children. We should let them live forever.”

“YAY!” The kids cheered.

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