Happy Holidays!

We had an X-Box themed Christmas this year! Pretty much everything was video game related. The day started out bright and early, tearing open presents in front of the fire place:

Even Abbey wanted in on the fun!

Look at those fingers go! Wrapping paper has never flown off the package so nimbly.

Ethan's big gift

The living room after the X-Box invasion...

After the present mania subsided, Ethan tested out the X-box with NBA Live 09, while I baked the most delicious cinnamon roles ever. I made some modifications to the recipe, including using half white sugar and half brown (I ran out of brown sugar). This made the filling taste like caramel..yum! Also, I put nutmeg in, because I just like nutmeg. Be warned, they are about 500 calories each. But so worth it:

After we gorged ourselves on cinnamon sugary goodness, I played Fable 2 for about 4 hours, until I got a headache from squinting at the TV. I take back everything I said in the last post about video games not being fun anymore. I love this game! It's like a cross between the Sims and an adventure game. It's so addictive.

When I got sick of that, I made Christmas dinner. We decided to try something different this year, so I made a pork loin roast instead of the traditional ham. I brined the roast over night and then stuffed it with spinach, lemon, rice and kalamata olives. It was pretty good...not the best, not the worst. It sure did look pretty though.

Stuffed Roast Beast! Before cooking

Between the roast and the cinnamon rolls, the kitchen was a disaster!

After dinner, Ethan helped me clean up and we went to Zoolights at the PDZA. It was pretty cold, but we got some hot cocoa and tea to warm us up. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to take any good night shots with my camera. My hands are not steady enough and everything comes out blurry. I did get a couple of the Aquarium, including the one shown below of all the sharks napping together. Who knew sharks did that? Not me.

That's pretty much it. We came home and Ethan went to bed. He has to work all weekend, but will get paid extra for it, so that's alright. I'm spending the rest of my vacation hanging out at home and playing with my new toys.

Happy holidays friends!