Christmas Eve Part 2: Revenge of the Corn Dogs

Somehow, Christmas Eve at my house has gotten out of my control. It started 3 Christmas Eves ago, when, desperate for food, my menfolk made a stop at a gas station convenience store for old, warmed-for-10-hours corn dogs. Last year, they insisted on corn dogs again, so I warmed up frozen ones myself. This year, Bruce was determined to make corn dogs from scratch. He found the recipe (Food Network) and we fried them up ourselves. Bruce decreed that everyone was in charge of bringing one dish to the Christmas Eve meal, so this is what we ate: Bruce's Corn Dogs, Ben & Shannon's Pot Sticker & Sweet and Sour Pork, Brian and Lindsey's Apple Fritters, Peter's Mozzarella Sticks, and I brought Striped Pesto Dip, Cherry Soda Punch and fruit with chocolate dip. It was quite a feast, with lots of leftovers. But I have to say that those corn dogs were the best I'd ever tasted!

Everyone helped everyone else with their dishes:Pretty amazing corn dogs:We ate like kings!Here's the recipe for the Striped Pesto Dip:Striped Pesto Dip
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. sour cream
2 Tbs. grated Parmesan cheese
6 Tbs. pesto
1/4 c. chopped toasted walnuts
In a medium bowl, blend cream cheese, sour cream and Parmesan cheese. In a clear glass serving dish, spread 1/3 of the cream cheese mixture. Top with 2 Tbs. pesto. Repeat layering, ending with a topping of pesto. Sprinkle with walnuts and serve with toasted baguette slices.

And this is one small portion of the aftermath of all those cooks in the kitchen!
Coming Soon- Christmas Eve Part 3: And Then We Danced

Christmas Eve Part 1: Homeless Bums and Cold Bums

It was another memorable Christmas Eve at my house, starting with a trip to Christmas Village. Christmas Village is a display of small-scale houses on the grounds of the City/County Building in Ogden. The houses have lit displays inside to look at, and they are sponsored by local businesses or city employees such as the firemen:Downtown Ogden can have some interesting characters, such as this friendly fellow who joined our group for a while. Brian has a way of attracting folks like our friend here:
Santa wasn't taking any visitors on Christmas Eve- he must have started his present delivering, but we liked his castle anyway:
I always make my kids pose with this display of carolers:We made it through Christmas Village in record time since it was SO COLD! We stopped at a local park on the way home for a few sledding runs:Coming soon- Christmas Eve Part 2: Revenge of the Corn Dogs.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours! Hope you have a wonderful next few days enjoying your families- we love you and wish you a fun Christmas!Rocko wishes you a Merry Christmas too! I took this picture this morning- he's wearing his Christmas present- a very classy dress sheet for the horse shows!This is the most appropriate song for Christmas Eve- don't you think?

The Stratford Family party was at Nancy's house this year. Daniel made this amazing gingerbread house- it looks like the house they used to live in:We did the family Nativity- Brian and Lindsey were Mary and Joseph. It's so great to have them home!And we played Christmas songs on the chimes.
Today I give you really terrible Christmas song. Sorry, but it's just so bad!

And a Disney Christmas Song

I don't think I've included Jingle Bells yet, so I'll let Disney do it:

A Disney Christmas Greeting!

Shannon sent me this link. I love it!
http://disney.chtah.com/a/hBLIX9RAO8OgOB73zxpB56V2A$I/graphical?t=BLIX9RAO8OgOB73zxpB56V2A$I&EMAIL=shannons@getawaytoday.com>.

Takin' The Easy Way!

Here's what we're giving the neighbors this year. Yep- easy is the name of the game! Some years are just like that.

You make think this it's corny, but I've always liked this song! Lucky you- here's a video with go-go dancers! I'm loving the back-up singers too!

My All-Time Favorite

There are 2 songs that bring me to tears whenever I hear them. One is "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". This is the other. Both with the Mack Wilbert arrangement, of course. This is my favorite Christmas song:

Everyone's Favorite Christmas Movie

C'mon, admit it- this is your favorite Christmas movie. Mine too! Ralphie's dad reminds me a lot of my FIL. When he got really upset he'd let some choice blue words fly! It was always so unexpected that it got everyone's attention, real fast. I miss him.

Here's a spiritual for your Christmas listening pleasure. I'm thinking of doing this as the prelude tomorrow.

A Christmas Wedding!

Weddings are always so fun, especially when the weather cooperates on a beautiful Winter day! My nephew married his Hannah yesterday in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. They were very cute:
So was my family:
And my niece's daughter, Cambrie:Caroline and Daniel were posers:Hannah and her new BIL of a half hour, Ryan:
In honor of the wedding, here's a romantic little Christmas song. So easy to sing along to!

A Very Disney Christmas!

Here are my fun Disney Christmas dishes! The cookie jar stays empty, because I don't want anyone to drop the lid. My poor family. Remember those 3 tins in my china cupboard? They are for the cute retro Disneyland dessert plates on the right. I love them! I hoping when Bruce and I go down for New Years that there are more awesome deals on Christmas things!

Here's a cute Disney version of Jingle Bells!

Tacos Made FOR Horses, Not OF Horses!

The horses at the barn are in for a special treat this year! Horse Tacos! They look just like tacos, but are made from horse-friendly ingredients. I saw them in Arizona at the horse show there, and I stole the idea! I am much better at copying an idea than coming up with something original on my own. :) The "meat filling" is really alfalfa pellets and a grain mix called Equine Senior, all mixed with molasses. Shannon and Peter had fun with the leftover frosting "cheese and Lettuce". Funny story- the extra filling was drying out on the kitchen counter when Bruce got home from work and he thought it was chocolate rice crispie treats. He had a big suprise!!

Louis Armstrong bring us today's Christmas song. He's awesome.

My First REAL Shoot

A cute young family in our ward asked if I would take some pictures of them for Christmas. It was the first shoot I've done where the subjects were not all under 12 years old or didn't have 4 legs and whinny! It was fun- and I learned a lot. They were troopers when I asked them to blaze a trail through the snow, and their little girl was amazingly cooperative, thank goodness! There are a few things I would change if I were to do it again, but all in all it was a good experience.
In today's song, Nat King Cole redeems himself after that whole "Little Boy That Santa Clause Forgot" fiasco.

The Bishop Joins the Band!

At the ward Christmas party, a band of local boys came and played Christmas songs. Since Bruce has known most of them since they were babies, it was a shoe-in that he would be invited to join them on stage for some jingle bell shaking. They even gave him a microphone to sing into, but that must have been turned way down, since he couldn't be heard. But that's probably a good thing. :) Photo courtesy of Ben's IPhone:

Who remembers this one? This song has stuck in my head since I was a kid...

Peter "Got His Temple On"

Peter went to the temple last night. It was really great! With it being December, there were very few people at the temple, which was nice. He got a lot of individualized attention- down to making friends with the counselor in the temple presidency who happens to live in the ward where Peter's Uncle Ken is the Bishop. Being Peter, he found all of our temple bags entertaining. After these pictures were taken he cried, "Let's all grab out totes!" What a good kid. I'm really proud of him.

Love this Mack Wilberg arrangement- especially the "ah"s of the 4th verse!

Christmas Dishes!

I love dishes! When Bruce and I were first married, I worked in the ZCMI china department. I took full advantage of that employee discount! These are my Christmas dishes. Those Christmas tree plates get lots of use in December, and I LOVE those peppermint plates! The 3 tins you see stacked on the bottom right hold something special- but you'll have to wait to see those!

It wouldn't be Christmas with out this classic! Sorry about the cheesy video- it was the only one with those opening chords!

The Fleas On The Dog

No, it's really called Feliz Navidad, but it's more fun to say, "The Fleas On The Dog!"

A Christmas Carol

Last night we saw A Christmas Carol at the Hale Centre Theatre in Salt Lake. It was excellent! They have a theater-in-the-round, so the action is close up, and we were on the 2nd row. We could reach out and touch Scrooge as he waited in his bed for the Ghost of Christmas Past! Thanks, I&K, for the gift card!



Today's song is one I used to sing with my kids when they were little. This version is from the Muppets, and it doen't get any better than that! It's a GOOD Christmas song:

Olde-Timey Christmas Cards

My sister, C, makes the most amazing cards, and she inspires me to get crafty. So, here are few of the Christmas cards I've made this year. I love them!
































Shannon joined me in the card making last Sunday night:
She had to have this Santa on her card because it reminded her of Rasputin, so merry Christmas from a mind-controlling Russian crazy man!

I found a little gem for today's Christmas song! I like the Osmond version of "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas. But lookie here- there's a video! What a nice, Mormon family, having a nice, Mormon Christmas!!

Good Holiday Advice From Our Friends At Harley Davidson

For some reason, I'm on the Harley Davidson e-mail list. (They must have found out about my Inner Rebel!) Last week I got this ad:It was captioned with this personalized advice, "Barbara, this year, don't give gifts that suck." So that's my goal for this year's gift giving. Thank you, Harley Davidson.

Today's Christmas song is terrible. Hate it. It falls in the "Downer" song category. The song actually starts about 1 minute into the video.

Those Tiny People Sure Look Like They're Having Fun!

Meet my Christmas villages! Even though it takes a few hours to get them all put together, they still have to go up every year. My favorite? The Mickey house!
The incomparable Barbra brings us today's GOOD Christmas song: