Christmas 2010

The first present of the day was Jamie's. We got him a new coffee maker (a Krueig). He was talking about how he needed some coffee in the morning, and most stores around us were closed.....and since we weren't opening gifts until night time I decided he should have that gift early.

We ate a wonderful dinner of crown roast of pork with cornbread stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. For dessert we had blueberry pie. YUMM!

After dinner, we went to Jamie's dad's house for more food and gifts. Jamie got some Christmas Ale, I got a ceramic bowl and popcorn, and the kids got some shopping money from Grandpa Allen & Pat. We took a basket over for them that was Cocoa themed....a hot cocoa ornament, chocolate chip scones, chocolate cabernet wine, flavored chocolate bars (sea salt & chili), chocolate liquor cups, chocolate peppermint coffee and peppermint hot cocoa mix.

Finally, at the end of the night, we came back home to open gifts at our house with the kids. Weeks of shopping and wrapping and planning...and it was all over in half an hour!

Christmas Parties 2010

Every year I go to a few holiday parties, and this year a friend and I threw one of our own. We hosted an open house for our friends, clients and vendors. It was a really fun day with tons of food, delicious drinks, and lots of friends stopped by to see us. We had a beautiful setup of decorations with the help of a few friends.

My women's group (Working Women Connection) also had a holiday party this year at the Legacy Club at Sweetbriar in Avon Lake. We did a gift exchange, had lunch and a few cocktails, and laughed until our cheeks hurt! It's always a good time with these ladies, and of course the holiday lunch didn't disappoint.

Thanksgiving 2010

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Allen & Pat's house (Jamie's dad). Pat's children were all there, plus a couple of their friends from across the pond (they're originally from England but live here now). We had a wonderful meal, watched the Cowboys/Saints game (boo, the boys lost), ate pumpkin pie and had a few Christmas Ale's.

Back at our house, I made a centerpiece (even though we didn't have dinner there) and ended up using it on the mantle. We opened our own stash of Christmas Ale and spent the rest of the weekend at home!

Shark Sammie for Shark Week from Dim and Den Sum

It seems like everyone's a big fan of Shark Week on the Discovery channel. I'm not personally a big fan of the Discovery channel, so it's not something I get excited about every year. However, when I heard that Dim and Den Sum (our local Cleveland food truck) was having Shark Sammies for Shark Week, I had to get excited. Jamie and I tracked down the truck and OMG it was good! We ordered Fried Green Tomatoes and Shark Sammies. Mmmmm!