Whimsical ME: Food and Drink

I gotta say that this has been the BESTest Christmas month EVER!

We've done so many fun things this past month. From building a ginger bread house to having 2 nice evenings with friends and family.

On Christmas Eve I had planned a fancy dinner with my hubby and kids AND my friend Farah who didn't go home for Christmas. AND then in talking to my sisterinlaw we invited them over to our FANCY shmancy dinner and they accepted our invitation AND I'm so glad that they did cause it was a lot of fun to have them over.

I gotta say that having a FANCY Christmas Eve dinner was the cherry on top for this month. Just the fact that we dressed up so nicely to eat dinner together sorta made the occassion more special and just overall FANCY and appropriate AND it made us act a little different (which was NICE). Just realized I don't have pictures of the dinner in action and must inquire of my photographer sister in law!

I'm going to have this EVERY Christmas now ... even if just for the 5 of us. We will dress up fancy, use our fancy tableware, play soft Christmas, light the candles and just TALK.

Dylan helping me with the dinner rolls. MADE FROM SCRATCH baby!

We made some treats for our neighbors and my little helpers took them over.

Lots of pictures from the FANCY dinner table.

I wanted to get a cute picture of the kids together but Dylan was a little bit cranky but when he saw that the GIRLS were getting their picture taken he jumped right in.

I LOVED how cute and fancy Dylan looked with his tie and suit. CUTE Nadya didn't disappoint with her adorable tutu and heels (from Heelarious). Nyomi wore her bumpy hair and some makeup ... that's how we roll.

I wore (not pictured) all black... cause that's how I roll and Adam wore some brown pants and a blue button down shirt (no tie, cause he thought our brother in law was gonna forgo the tie, but he didn't :) ... now we know ).

My brother in law cutting the tasty ham and wearing his tie.

Christmas morning the kids awoke at about 8 am. I think Dylan had to wake Nyomi up cause she was out. Adam stayed up until about 2am making sure everything was set up perfectly for the morning. Unfortunately, I was tired and crashed on the couch while I tried to be the good wife and watch him build Dylan's toy.

Adam couldn't find his Christmas jammies AND so had to wear ones from YEARS and YEARS ago that clearly did NOT fit him like they did before. haha!

The kids ALWAYS read books in bed so now they have their personal headlamps to light 'em up. They got books, silly bands, headlamps and Nyomi got nails in their stockings.

Bikes from Abuelita.

Our attempt to self-timer family photos.

I had a discussion with my sister on Christmas that made me realize why I never believed in Santa. My nephew, my sister's son, doesn't believe in Santa cause at their house all of the gifts are under the tree way before Christmas ... AND that is when it hit me ... the gifts were always under the tree WAY before Christmas and we opened them up at MIDNIGHT and none of them EVER said they came from Santa (cause everyone wanted to take credit for their presents, especially my hardworking mom) ... I GET IT now! Well, my kids definitely still believe in Santa, although, Nyomi is having some interesting questions, like:

"Mommy, how can Santa be so old and still be alive?"

ME:

"Nyomi, well, what do you think?"

Nyomi:

"Well, I think he's in Heaven and his Spirit comes down."

ME:

WOW!

Perfect opportunity to teach her the real spirit of Christmas. So thankful for her sweet little spirit.

If I've ever wondered what it would look like to have a blonde child, now I know. hehe.

We opened gifts all day long ... in fact we just opened the last one today Wed. the 28th. We wanted to take it REALLY slow and enjoy each gift. The kids played with their Santa gifts for a couple of hours before we opened other gifts. In fact the next gifts they opened were from family in Norway while we skyped with them.

This is how Santa came into our home ... since we don't have a chimney :)

Aunt Baylee came over with her beau to give the kids some gifts.

We had aunt Baylee for Christmas this year and we gave her a "BUMPY hair machine" (a wave curler) ... cause we are changing people one BUMPY hair at a time.

Adam playing with MY Christmas gift ... my beloved ipad.

Nyomi modeling her stocking NAILS from Santa.

(I bought them at Ulta and they are the minis ... just incase you wanted some)

I was channel surfing the other day and came upon the

RACHAEL RAY SHOW

and saw that she was preparing a crockpot meal, I became very interested so I kept watching. It looked so easy and "yum-O", I decided I'd give it a go ...

it's called

Honey-Lemon Chicken with Potatoes

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Salt and ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds baby potatoes
1 small onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
4-5 sprigs thyme, leaves picked and chopped
2 lemons, thinly sliced
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup chicken stockor water

To finish:

Zest of 1 lemon, cut into strips
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
Balsamic Drizzle

PREPARATION

In a skillet, heat the EVOO over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown on both sides.

Scatter the potatoes, onion, garlic, thyme and lemon slices in the bowl of a crock pot. Season with salt and pepper. Lay the browned chicken over the veggies and drizzle with honey. Add the stock or water, cover and cook, undisturbed, for 4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low.

Serve each portion topped with a combination of the lemon zest, parsley, toasted nuts and balsamic drizzle.

(I'll update with pictures after I've cooked it tonight)

I was able to take a couple pictures and I tasted it ... but by this time I was feeling really sick and I couldn't really taste anything ... SUCKS! On the bright side ... ADAM really liked it.