Although we were looking forward to this Christmas on our own, I spent several days really struggling. I was really lonely and wanted more than anything to be with family. But like Ryan kept saying - we ARE a family and the most important thing is that we are together. His optimism helped a lot.
I asked Ryan to call the Bishop and see if there was anyone in the ward that needed help or that we could invite for dinner. He gave us a few names and we talked about who to invite. Unfortunately, we tried a few people and they all said no, so we had our Christmas Eve dinner alone.
That being said, dinner was awesome! We made our first turkey! The credit really goes to Ryan, but any time I try to point that out he corrects me and says, "WE" did it. It was DIVINE! Seriously, it was one of the best turkeys I can remember. I made a tossed salad, some deviled eggs (they were NOT good), some twice baked potatoes, and ribbon jello salad. I realized this year that when asked about Christmas traditions we had, most of mine revolve around food. Ribbon Jello Salad is a must. As are Aebelskivers for breakfast (more on that later.) Twice baked potatoes too. I thought about it long and hard and that's the only time I can think of that we had them. (It's funny because I just read my brother's blog about Christmas and he mentioned the ribbon jello and the aebelskivers as well. It really is that important!)
The jello looks complicated, but it's not. It's rather simplistic in nature, though it does take a good amount of time. You can use as many, or as few flavors as you want. All depends on the look and taste you are going for. I decided I wanted a true rainbow this year so I used six jello packets. It is super yummy. And it looks amazing. I know I have blogged about these things before, but like I said - it's tradition!
Dinner was delicious, minus the eggs, and I am very sad that no one took us up on our offer to join us. I felt a little hurt at the time, which is a little silly. We genuinely wanted to help and to make things a little easier for someone else, but the important thing is that we tried. And we will try again in the future. We had razzleberry pie for dessert which we both love. Yum, yum, yum.
Now to be fair, we did have other traditions besides food growing up. We always re-enacted the Nativity, which I suppose we could have done with the three of us. Even Dodger could have participated, but it seemed a little silly. We did read some of the story for scriptures with Pierscen when he went to bed. And in my family we used to sit around and sing and/or perform Christmas music. We could have done that... Oh well. But the other thing we did for years and years was open our Christmas Eve present which was always pajamas. You wouldn't think pajamas would be that exciting, but on Christmas Eve, they really are. I realized that we didn't have any for Pierscen, but then remembered that my mom had said she wasn't making pjs this year and so I picked out a pair from Children's Place that would then be from my mom. I ran down to the tree, picked out the present I knew had some clothes items for P, opened it just enough to remove the pjs, rewrapped both, and presented it to Pierscen. (Thanks for saving the day Grandma!)
P has never opened a present before, so being a baby, the most natural thing was to eat it first.
Then with a little help he started tearing it apart.
Hurray for Christmas pjs!!! He was quite happy about it. :) We changed him into said pjs, brushed his teeth, read scriptures and said prayer and put him down for bed.
Since he goes to bed pretty early, that left the evening for Ryan and I. We pulled up Netflix and perused through the holiday films. There were some great cartoon ones, but with P in bed, we opted for Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. It's a classic.
It was a really nice evening. And unlike the past few years - especially last year - it actually FELT like Christmas Eve. It snowed! There is something magical about snow on Christmas Eve/Day. It had been cold for quite a while, but that doesn't equal Christmas. Snow somehow does. If we ever move somewhere perpetually warm, I don't know what we will do around Christmas with no snow. I think part of what makes snow at or on Christmas so amazing is the peace and hush it creates. It makes the world slow down. It gives us pause and a reason to just sit and watch it gracefully fall from the sky. It creates that ever magical mood around the fire with hot coco and the arm of someone your care about wrapped around your shoulder or waist. It makes you second guess your plan to go out into the world to get that last present and instead just think of all the amazing blessings you already have - especially the most important of all: Our Savior. We are so blessed to have the knowledge of our Savior and Brother Jesus Christ. He is the reason we have joy and meaning in this life.
It was still a little strange and sad to be away from family, but it really was wonderful to just be us. To not stress about dashing back and forth and making dinners and parties. It was just us. We truly are blessed. I love Ryan and Pierscen so much. I can't imagine life without them. How much life has changed in the last year. Christmas Eve last year our family friend Autumn was giving me a foot massage trying to induce labor. It didn't work. I didn't want it to either. I really didn't want P to be born on Christmas Eve or Day. And only two days later (almost three with how long things took) Ryan and I received the most amazing gift we could imagine: Life. Yes, Christmas with the three of us is just fine. I love and miss our families, but Ryan was right. We have everything we need right here.
We really should have come out there for Christmas Eve! Darn it. That food looked amazing.
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