Our Christmas at Home

As you know, we decided to stay home for Christmas this year. I am so glad we did. Because, as you also know, I got really sick!

We did manage to celebrate Christmas, though. And I did manage to take a few pictures.
Mostly of food, of course.


We started the day with a breakfast casserole. I think this one turned out much better than the one I made last year for M's family. I can definitely tell cooking gets better with practice!

I popped this bad boy out of the oven at about Noon. Yeeeaaaahh. I'm pretty sure I slept in THE latest this Christmas than ever before in my life. Pardon my nasty sick/morning hair look.

We ate the casserole, some fruit and our traditional cranberry juice with champagne.
Then it was gift opening time!! :)


We did good. We both definitely went over our initial "spending limits," but not terribly. And we were both happy. So, that's good.


Now, the turkey.
Which, believe it or not, I did have several people ask me about!

Thankfully, it wasn't frozen, so I didn't have to thaw it.

I brined it Christmas Eve. I went with recipes partly from Cooks Illustrated and partly from Wegmans.

I slow roasted it. The time actually flew by because I was so busy making the other sides!

In the end, I wish it had turned out browner, but the internal temperature was right.

And the little thingy popped up! It did not ding, in case you're wondering.

We carved it together and set it out on what was originally going to be my beautiful Christmas table.

But, really it was just a place to set everything. Because we ended up eating in front of the TV on our trays. I was whooped!!

I got almost everything I wanted to make, made. I skipped the cider glazed carrots. I didn't have the energy to knead dough, so I made rolls out of a can, and I didn't make homemade gravy, I used a bag of Wegmans gravy. But it was still very good. As you can see, Brokaw was stoked!

I'm actually really glad I made this huge feast for just the two of us, because over the next full week, when I was sick, I didn't have to cook at all. We ate leftovers from this and leftover breakfast casserole for like 8 days!


Brokaw got to do his part, too. My little pre-rinse.

So, there you have it. Our first Christmas at home. In pictures. It was very nice. I enjoyed cooking. I enjoyed exchanging gifts in front of the tree and opening stockings with my Love.

Where to Even Begin?

Hi y'all.
I haven't posted for like a week and a half, which I understand in interweb land, is like 47 years.

Sorry about that.
I was super sick last week.
Like actually living up to my normal overreacting when I'm sick, sick.
It was not fun.

I've been feeling better for a few days, and I feel a tug at my heart to blog away, but I honestly don't even know where to begin.

Sometimes I wonder if I blog too much "we went here and we did this or that, and here's a picture."
Because, is that really interesting? Probably not. Unless you're me. Or my mother. Both of us are faithful readers of this space, but still. Bleh, right?

Well, I'm afraid we've got to start somewhere, folks.

So, I'll show you how awesome I am at making breakfast burritos.

Because I fry the tortillas in butter. Or I did. This was before the New Year began :)

Butter, eggs, real bacon (not that fake turkey stuff that should not even be allowed to be called bacon, IMHO), green onions, cheese, salsa.
Divine.

I'll show you a picture of my little Christmas kitty/packing helper.

Sometimes I call Katy "Sexy" because she always has this seductive way of laying there and looking at you, like, "Happy Birthday, Mister President" or something.

I'll show you random discoveries I made around the apartment. Like these glass containers for keeping flour and sugar.

I've had these since I moved into my first apartment, I think. My mom handed them down to me. I remember them sitting on top of the fridge when I was a kid. Now they're on top of my fridge. And I'm actually using them now. Which I didn't do for the last 10 years or so, I don't know why.

Christmas Cold

Today is a WONDERFUL day. This year the Ritters are staying home for Christmas. We have been anticipating today for months. So yesterday we were disappointed when Dana started fighting a cold. It isn't just a little sniff-and-cough cold, but a big ol' knock-you-on-your-can cold. With a turkey and fixings in the refrigerator Dana wasn't going to be undone.
Add to the cold a pressure sore on my end that requires extra help from Dana (and extra worry too) and we weren't too happy with how Christmas was shaping up. Neither of us handles disappointment very well. Getting through a rough morning, we enjoyed Dana's breakfast casserole (which we'll be enjoying the next several days) and read the Christmas story from Luke 2.
We then OPENED OUR GIFTS! We each had a stocking and something beside the tree (Note: with a curious puggle, presents go on the table beside, not under the tree). It was great having our surprises from each other (along with the practical things we knew were coming). The big relief was: nowhere to be.
Not to be bested by a cold --even a big ol' one-- Dana went to fixing that Christmas dinner she has been planning. She is coughing and wo' out, but she is pushing through it. Still at it at nearly five o'clock and coughing along, Dana has the house smelling wonderful --yet again-- and even brought be some of her homemade bread from Thursday's cook-fest.
Somebody gets a really good massage and long, relaxing shower tonight and hopefully a restful night sleep.
Thank you for making this a Very Merry Christmas Sweet.

December is a Flash! (Our Life Lately)

My apologies for not keeping up with the blog that well this month! December is always such a flash! I love this season, all of the fun and food and parties and celebrations are so great! But being so busy, the month does seem to go by in like one blink, doesn't it?

Here's a glimpse of what life has been like for us around here for the last couple of weeks...

It snowed. A tad.

I started driving to work. Because being terribly cold is just not for me, I have decided.

President Obama got pretty much everything he wanted for Christmas. Holy "lame duck" session! Work was CRAZY busy.

Late nights are tough for the work/home life balance, but wow is the White House beautiful at night!

There has been a little more of this around here than usual.

We got a package full of Christmas gifts from my Mama!

There was something for all of us.

First, Michael...

Then me :)

I know you've thoroughly enjoyed viewing me opening Christmas presents wearing my long johns. Very Cat Woman, right?

Now, the pets...

Katy got her prize first. For a nanosecond. Then she ran away faster than I could even get a picture.

Then Brokaw. Who opened his present himself. And may have enjoyed the plastic it was wrapped in as much as the tennis balls themselves.

Princess got one, too.

But, she didn't really care. She was off in her own little world, being content, as usual.

So... someone else got her prize. (and Katy's too...)

And, on this particular night we ate Chipotle.

May I also mention that we are both "expanding?" For M, this is a good thing. I consider it an accomplishment that he has some meat on his bones. My bones, however, were already quite meaty.... Oh well.

It snowed, again. This time a little more. Thankful for 4WD!

And there I go driving in it... taking pictures... I know, I'm awful.

One day, when I was in a particularly foul mood, there was a little party in the lobby of my office and there was a chocolate fountain. Turned my frown upside down! (Did I mention, I'm "expanding?"

Somebody was looking particularly handsome at church one Sunday morning, in his new scarf.

I baked some honey oatmeal rolls for our ministry teams Christmas Party. And I *tried* to make a red velvet pound cake in a bundt cake pan but ended up taking this instead....

We call this Red Velvet Cream Cheese Crumble. Sounds legit, right? Yeah.... well.... a little background for you.... Apparently I have much to learn in the how-to-grease-and-flour-a-bundt-cake-pan routine. Half of my cake came out. The other half didn't. I was a pouty mess! Because clearly this was my husband's fault because he happened to be "standing" there watching me during my moment of baking failure! I was just going to throw it way. M said, "Make it a crumble cake!" I was like, "is that even a thing?" Ugh. Pout. Pout. Stomp. Stomp. Then, I decided to give it a shot. I crumbled it all up, smashed it down in a casserole dish, made some cream cheese icing, sprinkled some more crumbles on top and some pecans and sold it as "Red Velvet Cream Cheese Crumble." It was a hit! Score 1 for Michael. I want to remember this because it's a great 'our marriage' kind of story. So typical, it's not perfect so I don't want it and he's all making something beautiful and useful out of nothing. Grr and :) all at the same time.

I spent an entire day this week doing absolutely nothing other than looking up recipes on the internet, reading Real Simple and snuggling with Brokaw. And opening a certain package that came in the mail with MY KINDLE in it!!! Thank you Mommy Claus!!!! :)

Today, I ran out to Trader Joe's for fresh flowers for our Christmas table.

Where, tomorrow, we will be having Roasted Turkey, Herb Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Sweet Potato Casserole, Green Bean Casserole, Collard Greens and Cider Glazed Carrots for dinner. Oh, and Yeast Rolls, of course. And maybe Macaroni and Cheese, maybe.

Hopefully.

Note, there are no bundt pans involved!

Dessert is Carrot Cake I bought from Wegmans!

There, that's the last two weeks or so, in pictures.

Wait! There's one more!

As I was sitting here writing this, a certain someone came in here and took my stocking and brought it back, filled up. :)

I'm *really* looking forward to tomorrow! Our 'Just Us' Christmas is already perfect.

Merry Christmas, Y'all!

Homemade Christmas Gifts

This is my third Christmas not really being able to afford Christmas presents for everyone. Two years ago, every dollar I made went toward paying for our wedding. Then last year, we were still recovering from the wedding, plus adjusting to our new life together and money was so tight, we didn't really do gifts for our families at all. That made me really sad. :( Not that I like to go all out, but giving gifts is fun!

This year, I found a happy medium! Homemade Christmas gifts! And, I don't think they're cheesy at all. I would love to get a package like this in the mail!

I've been sending baked goods for a few years, but this year, it's to a whole new level!

I saw this idea in a Paula Deen magazine. Jar mixes! I measured out the ingredients for a few different foods and portioned them into mason jars. I printed labels. It was fun! And easy.

My idea was to send a jar mix, some cookies and some freshly baked bread to our family members.

I actually started the process weeks ago, baking. Then I got sick. I don't think anyone would appreciate germ-ridden baked goods, so that was that. The next weekend, I tried again, baking cookies and magic bars...

Then... my oven broke!! Seriously. It stopped heating. So again, my attempt at mass amounts of baking failed. So, the jar mixes just sat and waited for the other stuff.

It was at this point that I had to come to terms with the fact that I was not going to be able to get this stuff to peoples' houses by Christmas Day. Oh well. I tried. There was no way I was going to be able to get 12 Priority Mail boxes home anyway. Post Offices are only open when I'm at work. And I did not see myself trying to carry 12 boxes home on the Metro.

So, the mass baking had to wait until yesterday. That's when I caught up!! I made 12 LOAVES OF BREAD yesterday! Honey Whole Wheat, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl, Cinnamon Oatmeal, Blueberry Oatmeal, Braided Cheddar Bread, Banana Nut bread and gosh, I can't even remember what else... but it definitely looked like bake sale headquarters up in here! I get almost all my bread recipes from The Frugal Girl. Yum.

After 8 loaves, I ran out of eggs so I made an emergency run across the street to Target. In my PJ pants. I realized upon arrival that I was at Target, wearing flannel pants with Christmas trees on them and it was like 6:30pm. I prayed I wouldn't see anyone I know. Which is a real problem since we moved, we see people from church all the time there! God heard my prayer.

I came back home and finished up baking. Michael and I tag teamed. He did all the click-and-ship stuff on the Postal Service website. I'm super glad he did because that kind of administrative stuff drives me nuts. I have no patience. He printed the labels too, yeah!

I wrapped the breads in ribbon and labels like I did the jar mixes. So cute, right? I'm sorry but I am proud! :)

At about midnight, we were DONE!

Carl, our mail man, came and took all these boxes away today. So family, sorry you have to wait, but I promise it will be worth it!