and I'm back

After what seemed like at least a month, but was really only a week, I am back from picturesque Anaheim. I will talk about that later, because first I want to recap Christmas. I know Christmas was a long time ago.... but whatever. I thought I'd have time to write a few posts in Anaheim, but boy was I wrong.

Anyway, Christmas began on Christmas Eve when Ben gave me the Canon Speedlite 430EX! I used it that day and the next, and I love it so far! My present to Ben (a steak tasting from Oliver Ranch that I had seen on Steamy Kitchen) hadn't yet arrived, but it got there a few hours after we left on the 24th. I'm very excited to do our tasting and see if we can tell the differences between the beef from different ranches!

Before we left, I had to quickly whip up one last Christmas present for my sister-in-law Becca - hot chocolate mix and homemade marshmallows. I was a little nervous about the marshmallows, because all of the instructions specified a stand mixer due to the legnth of mixing time needed. I decided to give it a whirl anyway, and I think they turned out great! My mixer was sounding quite sad and was smoking a little at the end of the 12 minutes... so we'll see if it turns on the next time I need it, but the marshmallows tasted AWESOME! I used this recipe and followed it exactly.

I found the most basic hot chocolate mix I could - good ole Martha came through for me. We had a little left over that didn't fit in the jar, and it tasted great! I had all the ingredients on hand, which was key in preparing a last minute gift :)

Trying out some of the marshamllows the next day - delish!

We went over to my in-laws at about 2pm and the first gift was opened, a Wii from Ben's mom to his dad - almost everyone got some sort of Wii accessories that day! Everyone played it all day in between cooking up our feast!

Becca and Ben also played a little Scrabble

My youngest sis-in-law, Laura, had to work until 7:30pm that day, so we decided to make appetizers for dinner and open gifts while eating before going to midnight mass. Either Becca or my mother-in-law decided to go with an Asian theme. While I was initially skeptical, it was actually a lot of fun and everything turned out awesome! We had a great time making the food throughout the day.

Ben and I made spring rolls (Recipe from Steamy Kitchen) and cream cheese and crab wontons. I have discovered that cream cheese wontons are SUPER easy. Since I love them so, I will be making them more often in the future! The spring rolls are more difficult, but Ben got the hang of it after making a few ugly ones :)

Joe made Tom Kha soup, Amanda (middle sis-in-law) made fortune cookies and chicken skewers, and Lisa (MIL) made lettuce wraps and egg rolls. Other people assisted, but those were the main cooks. Everything was so awesome, and of course there was way too much food.

Recipe for egg rolls if you can read that :)

Dipping Sauces




Tom Kha Soup






The whole table

Ben and I got a ton of awesome presents! I feel like it was our wedding all over again with the amount of housewares we got. We took home a new pan (haven't decided yet if I'll exchange it for something bigger - I didn't realize how small 2.5 quarts was before), an immersion blender, a spice rack and bottles, a rolling pin, and more that I can't even remember anymore! I'm so excited to finally be home to use everything :)

Becca and Joe with their mounds of presents :)

Joe got 2 sawhorses. So Ben's dad put 2 little saws and 2 little horses in a box for him :) The real ones were in the garage.

very excited about our new spice rack

One of Ben's cousin's was getting married in Thailand on 12/28, so he wanted a pic of the family - here we all area!

After midnight mass and spending the night at the in-laws, we drove up to Apple Valley to spend the day with my family. We had brunch and then went to see Yes Man (which was actually pretty funny). Then came back and made up some more appetizers! I made the Chicken Enchilada Roll-ups again - forgot a few ingredients but these things are very adaptable. They were great! We also had mini pigs in a blanket and spinach dip. We have always just had a small dinner when we do the immediate family Christmas because no one seems to be too hungry after days of chowing down.

Dad and Liz with their matching furrowed brows




Maggie looking for some treats


Liz moved out of my parents' house today (she had been there since she graduated college last May) so I got her a cookbook so she can make delicious meals for herself and her roomate. Also included were two gift cards to Wilde Roast Cafe and Brasa, right near her new apartment!

We got some more great stuff here - new sheets and a bedskirt (stuff we needed but didn't want to spend money on - perfect!), new slippers for us both (crucial in the winters), AND a new beautiful camera bag for me!! Yay. What an awesome Christmas it was, hopefully all of you had a great one as well!