Merry Christmas 2009!

[This is a super-long post with lots of video and pictures. Sorry, I went a little crazy. I think it was because it took us 2 days to celebrate Christmas this year. So, take your time and take a break if you need to. We won't be offended.]
Christmas this year was lots of fun! On Christmas Eve, Elina left out cookies, milk, and a letter for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. She made sure to leave out 9 carrots for all the reindeer--even Rudolph. Her letter to Santa was very cute because she had to tell Santa that Eli was sick. (Poor Eli had been pretty sick for a few days with a bad cough and a runny nose.) On Christmas Eve, the kids also got their new Christmas PJs for Christmas morning. As many of you know, I'm a sucker for matching PJs now. Cute, right?

On Christmas Day, the kids were up at their usual time ready to open presents, but we always have to wait until my parents finally crawl out of bed in order to start the Christmas festivities. The kids woke them up earlier than usual (9:30am) because they couldn't wait any longer, so we started opening gifts a little before 10am.



Elina had a blast handing out presents to everyone and opening up her own. Eli only wanted to open two gifts and after that he was kind of freaked out by all the presents and wrapping paper. We tried to give him more presents to open, but he refused, so in the end Elina had to open the rest of his presents while he sat next to her. And, honestly, Eli seemed to enjoy Elina's presents more than his own! He couldn't stop playing with her Princess music jewelry box!


For the gift roundup, Elina's favorite present was her "car with 2 seats" (more on that later) and Eli's was a kitchen set from A that included a toaster (with toast that pops up), a coffeemaker (that "brews" and "drips" water), and a blender (that "blends" water). Lots of cleaning up, but lots of fun....and actually, both Elina and Eli enjoy this set! So I guess the real winners were the toys that both the kids could enjoy together. Go figure!

After the presents, we took the traditional lying-in-the-wrapping-paper picture and then we all enjoyed a new breakfast that J and I worked on the night before. Every year we do a big breakfast casserole, but this year I wanted to try out a new one. We had a yummy breakfast strata with sausage and mushrooms from my Test Kitchen cookbook. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it ended up being delicious. Definitely a keeper, especially for Christmas.
One of the big presents for the kids this year was the famous "car with 2 seats" that Elina has been asking for for the past few months. She is referring to the Power Wheels Jeep. She's been wanting this car to drive Eli around the neighborhood. Well, Ah-Gong and Ah-Ma bought them the car. We had to wait until after breakfast to go outside for them to see the car. Plus, it was cold out so we had to "bundle them up" a little before we headed out. This was the conversation we had with Elina while we were putting on her coat:

Us: We have a surprise outside for you. Are you excited?
Elina: Yes! Is it something for both me and Eli?
Us: Yes, it is.
Elina: Is it something we can ride in?

At this point we are just laughing and laughing because she totally knows what she's going to see once she gets outside. See, honestly, I blame Bass Pro Shops Santa for this. Remember in my "Christmas Prep" post? I wrote that Elina told me that Santa said ok when she asked for the car with 2 seats. When I heard that, I was a little shocked. What if we weren't going to get it for them? Well, the night before Christmas I had this conversation with Elina:

Me: So, tomorrow is Christmas. You must be very excited. What do you think you're going to get as gifts? What are you hoping for?
Elina: A car with 2 seats!
Me: Elina, what if you don't get a car with 2 seats? You know, the car is very expensive.
Elina: But...Santa said I could get the car...since I was good.
Me: But, Elina, sometimes we don't get what we always want...even if we ARE good.
Elina: But...he said so... [starting to look sad]
Me: [trying to change the subject] Ok, ok, we'll see what happens...what else are you hoping for?

See, this is why I don't think Santa should say stuff like that. I mean, I appreciate that he's trying to make little children happy, but it might not make the kids so happy if Mommy and Daddy can't cough up the gifts! Am I being a humbug? I just don't think it's in Santa's best interest to guarantee things like that. Maybe it's just me.

So, back to the "car with 2 seats"...Elina drove Eli around for awhile. Eli was speechless and Elina was having a great time being in charge.

Here is when Elina and Eli were "surprised" with the car--


Here are the kids cruising around--


The rest of the day was just spent playing with new toys, playing Wii with Elina, and relaxing around the house. We played the new Toy Story Mania game that A bought for B. We wanted this game badly because it's based off of one of our favorite Disney rides that we just went on last month. At the end of each little game, it makes the players shake and wave their controllers like crazy. So we got some hilarious video of us playing the game.


Then my parents, A, Elina, and Eli made homemade dumplings for dinner. Elina LOVES to help make dumplings because she gets to roll out the little pieces of dough. My dad says that she has gotten a lot better at it. Even Eli got in on the dough. They had a blast and dinner was delicious. (We were supposed to have turkey, but we had to eat the dumplings fresh, so we decided to save the turkey for the night after Christmas.) I think dumpling-making will have to be a tradition. It's too yummy to pass up!

Here's video footage of the kids at work with Ah-gong--

This second video is of A helping with the dumpling dough...apparently, she wants to make a dumpling pizza--

The night after Christmas we had a big dinner with turkey breast, gravy, veggies, potato salad, spaghetti, and a marscapone and citrus berry tarte. Sounds delicious, doesn't it? For the turkey breast and gravy I used my Test Kitchen recipe book and they all came out better than they ever have. I have to thank KT for the turkey coming out well though because she lent me her v-rack, which I think helped tremendously. I really need to go out and buy a v-rack now.
I had also been meaning to try out the tarte recipe ever since KT posted about it on her blog. It's a beautiful dessert and I thought the colors would be great for Christmas. Not only was it pretty to look at, but it was yummy and light as well. Although the kids didn't like it all that much. I think they prefer chocolate-based desserts. I hate to admit it, but J and I had to make the dessert twice. The first time we whipped the cream and marscapone for too long and it separated....it was really ugly stuff. So we sent B out to get more cream (the nice guy that he is) and we made it a second time and it came out perfectly. Live and learn, I guess.

I guess Christmas was sort of a 2-day celebration this year. Lots of fun and relaxing...so no complaints here! Hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday, too!