Merry CHRISTmas!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!



HO,HO,HO...MERRY CHRISTMAS!
SANTA REALLY ENJOYED HIS COOKIES AND THE REINDEER SAY THANK YOU
FOR THEIR YUMMY CANDY CANES!

Mommy and Daddy on Christmas Morning

Connor got a big boy bike, he couldn't be more excited!

Opening Our Presents!

I love my new bike dance.

Christmas hugs before going to see what Santa left.

Christmas Eve with the cousins, getting ready for bed and Santa.

The Panhuise Family...Together Again!

The kids are opening their letter from Santa, excitement is brewing.

Poor Mara, sickey with Mickey and her toothpaste. She has a very bad cold and really wasn't in the mood for presents. Connor had to help her open everything. Here she is with her collection of stuffies.. cat, mickey, tinkerbell, and zhu zhu pets. She really likes her kitty and is still thinking of her name.

So overall we all had a great Christmas together. Despite Mommy and Mara having bad colds and Mommy sounding like a frog we had a great day together. I had the entire family here for Christams Eve dinner after our Church service that we all went to together and the kids were really good during service. Only Mara had to be walked around in the halls to get some goodies. She absolutely loved the music. This was her first time in the service because usually she goes in the nursery, but because she isn't feeling too great we kept her with us. After we got home, Mike and Emily came over and I got our feast ready for us to enjoy.

Menu
Cesear Salad

Seafood Cioppino
It was amazing so here is the recipe I used:

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup butter

• 1 rib celery, chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 can crushed tomatoes (28-oz)(I used whole tomatoes in the can and cut them up)
  
• 2 cups clam juice or fish stock
• 2 cups white wine
• 4 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 Dungeness crab (about 2-lbs), cracked and cleaned, or 1-lb frozen crabmeat thawed
• 2 pounds halibut fillet, cut into 1-in slices
• 24 large prawns, peeled and de-veined
• 12 mussels
• 1/2 bunch Italian parsley, chopped

Preparation:

1. In a large pot, on medium-low heat, melt the butter with the olive oil and saute the celery and onions until soft, about 10 minutes. Add all the rest of the ingredients except the seafood and fresh parsley. Simmer on low, uncovered, for one hour. Add a splash of water if the sauce gets to thick. Taste for salt and adjust if needed.
   
   
2. Add the crab, shrimp, and halibut, and simmer covered another five minutes. Add the mussels, cover the pot and simmer for 3 minutes more, or until the mussels open. Turn off the heat, and stir in the Italian parsley.

Ladle the Ciopinno into large bowls and serve with lots of sourdough bread and red wine.

Shrimp Scampi

Lasagna

Cookies for Dessert

After dinner we exchanged gifts with my brother and Emily, got the kids ready for bed and cleaned the messy kitchen up. All in all the whole mess only took 27 minutes to eat at the dinner table! Just might be a record. We did manage to get everyone seated together and all eat at the same time! Horray for that at least.

the boys, doing what they do best....vegging!

Christmas morning came, Mommy, Mara and Pop Pop all feeling under the weather so our breakfast still is yet to be cooked...Bacon, Sausage, Eggs still in the fridge for another day....looks like breakfast for dinner this week. So, we did our Christmas with Pop Pop and then he went home to rest while the rest of us headed over to Aunt Jess's and Uncle Dave's for our family Christmas gathering with the Gallatig's.

Glad we won't be living here forever, our floors might not make it too long
now that they are being used for roller blading and biking!
Nothing but good old humor on tv watching the Christmas Story.
Round two of Christmas at Jess and Dave's house.

Santa built my niece Peyton this amazing Hannah Montana stage fit with the curtains and all. The kids had a blast performing songs and dancing together. I took a video of Connor and Peyton singing Jingle Bells. Peyton then performed for the entire crowd a few songs from Hannah Montana. She was so cute up there dancing around and singing. Mara kept trying to keep up with her big cousin Peyton, but all along she was tearing up the stage with her stockings taking the tape off and sticking to her legs. She kept walking around with the Y on her stockings. Aunt Jess had to track her down to fix Peyton's name. The boys had a blast with their Star wars costumes and Light savers. We tried to get family pictures but Connor was having too much fun.

We all had a great Christmas Day and hope that you did too!
Hugs and Kisses and Now let's Celebrate

2010!
Now we are off to Long Wood Gardens in the Pouring Rain....say this looks like a great way to start feeling better, huh! So much for non - refundable tickets. Uncle Mike's Christmas Present to all of us. Well umbrellas here we come!

Merry Christmas!