Christmas Eve 2025: In the Kitchen!

First Post of the Day

Often I spend a lot of time in the kitchen on Christmas Eve day. This year was no exception despite having fewer people joining us for Christmas dinner. I started with the cherry pies. 

Like he did for Thanksgiving, Kyle offered to help and joined me in the kitchen. While he made the filling, I worked on the pie dough.

Pie dough is difficult to make - it is finicky and you cannot handle it too much. A few years ago I experimented with several store bought brands of premade crusts, but none of them were as good as a homemade crust. (Shout out to Danielle Feldman for making my apron!)

You only get one chance with pie dough - you never, ever re-roll it after it's been rolled once already. It will be tough and not flaky. Better to throw it out and start over than to re-roll.

You never double a pie dough recipe, either. It doesn't work well, although I don't know why it does not. So, making two pies means I had to make and roll out two batches of dough.

We got the cherry pies assembled and slid them into the oven to bake, and then I started on the Christmas Jello. I'm not a big Jello eater, but I do like Christmas Jello.

It's a pretty dish with red and green layers that sandwich a marshmallow, whipped cream layer. I'll put the recipe at the end for any who might like to try it. If you can, put it in a clear glass dish so the layers can be seen!

A few days earlier I had made sugar cookie dough and then cut it into shapes for decorating.

All that was left to do was to decorate them, a tradition going back to my childhood Christmas Eves.

I'm a slap on the frosting, add some sprinkles, and eat it kind of cookie decorator.

Others in my family are not. 

Lisa even has a set of six little tweezers to use to add decorations to the cookies!

She brought a tub, a TUB! of sprinkles and sugars and dragees for us to use.

As a result, there were some beautiful cookies produced.

Almost too pretty to eat!

After we finished our cookie decorating project, we followed another long time family tradition and had pizza and watched some holiday movies. (We added in ribs this year, too.)

Molly was really intrigued by the blended scents of the pizza and ribs on my plate! 

The first movie we watched stems back to my kids' earliest years - Christmas Eve on Sesame Street.

It is beloved in our family and I know my other kids were watching it with their families where they were celebrating their Christmases. The sweetness and innocence of Big Bird in this film always brings me to tears. And when Cookie Monster realizes he is supposed to give Santa Claus cookies? Hilarious!

Then we watched White Christmas and I read Twas the Night Before Christmas aloud. (We save the Christmas story in Luke for Christmas morning.)

Kyle is working on a project of preserving important family memories, and so he recorded me reading it. Then, he interviewed me about the book and my memories with it. (The video above.)

Then it was time for bed. Lisa, Nash, and Mama slept over which was extra fun and gave us even more family time together.

Tammo and Nashie wanted to do their own sleepover together. Not much room for any humans left in that bed, is there? LOL

Another blog post is coming - stay 'tooned!

Christmas Jello Recipe

1 pkg each of cherry, lime, and lemon Jello (I use sugar free)

1 bag mini marshmallows

1 tub Cool Whip or 1 pint whipping cream that has been whipped to a firm stage

First Layer: make lime Jello according to package directions, pour into glass dish, cover, and put in fridge to set. When it is firm, begin next layer.

Second Layer: make lemon Jello according to package directions. Leave in bowl, cover, and put into fridge. Check every 20 minutes or so to see if it has begun to set up. When is is thickening but not yet set, cover the lime layer with marshmallows. Then gently fold the tub of Cool Whip into the partially set lemon Jello. Spread that mixture evenly over the marshmallows being sure to push the Cool Whip layer all the way to the sides of the dish. Cover, and put back into fridge. Let set.

Third Layer: When the second layer is firm (wait an hour if you are not sure), make up the cherry Jello. Let cool 15 - 20 minutes and then pour over the second layer, cover, and refrigerate. Eat when set.

It's Christmas Eve!

First Post of the Day

It's Christmas Eve! A day that in childhood dragged and took forever to pass. My siblings and I would pass the time by playing games together, playing outside, and drawing.

Jenny is the youngest and this is a Christmas Eve drawing that she did that just came to light. (Leslie is going through tubs of our parents' things.)

She titled it "Busy to make the time go fast" and you can see Leslie and me riding double on Amy, Jenny riding a bicycle (she was never horsey like Les and I were), and Steve up in the woods chopping wood for our wood burning fireplace.

Jenny drew smiles as upside down Vs so while it looks like we are sad or mad, we are actually smiling.

Riding on Christmas Eve Day was actually a tradition that Leslie and I did every year.

We'd tack up Amy and Pokey, decorate their manes and tails, and ride up the trail through the woods for a chilly but enjoyable ride. Fun times.

Here's a Christmas Eve drawing I did in 1964. I'm holding my very first model horse, Brownie (a Christmas gift in 1963) and looking at the tree with my dad.

I've mentioned Brownie before, including for the Yuletide Challenge. 

He is still with me, much loved, and displayed in my china cabinet.

Speaking of the Yuletide challenge, today the prompt is for reindeer or anything with antlers. I don't have either of those in my collection, but I do have this!

An Old Timer hat that Lisa Doughman made me.

Isn't it neat? I love the glittery black contrasting with the deep red, the berries, and the jingle bell.

I am hoping to get another post written today, hence the notice at the start of this one that it's the first of the day. If the second one is not posted by 11:00 AM Eastern today, then it won't be coming until another time.

Cross your fingers and stay 'tooned!

Christmas 2024 - Christmas Eve

 First Post of the Day

We packed a lot into Christmas Eve Day so this blog post is photo-intensive.

Hanging Out

Jessica, Andrew, and Vanessa chatting by the tree.

Frank and Lisa.

JC, Jayci, and Trinity.

Just as my sewing room was needed to accommodate guests, Vanessa converted her photography studio into an overflow game and eating room.

Cookie Decorating

Aprons I'd made for the grands in the past were pulled out for use.

We started by having the youngest cuzzos decorate a few cookies (Susan, Lukas, and Melissa),

and then added in the next "age level." Kate,

Mila,

and Titan.

Next, it was the quads' turn. Whitney,

Ian, Julie, and Cambria. (With Melissa making an appearance.)

Finally, the adult cousins were invited to decorate if they desired. They were all in! (Trinity and JC by Whitney.)

Trinity's Little Mermaid cookie.

Jayci.

Jessica taking photos with Susan and Lukas.

Emily checking to see who needs what.

Pizza Time!

After a massive clean up from the cookie decorating project, we set out plates and tableware for pizza.

Plus a veggie tray or two.

The under-18s ate in the kitchen and got their pizza first. The couple on the couch is Todd's parents, Pat and Carmen. They came up from Tennessee and joined us for the holiday.

And then the adults trooped into the kitchen and served themselves. (This is VERY much a home movie.)

The Nativity

After pizza came the traditional re-enacting of the Nativity. Only this year, the kids took it over from Vanessa and did all the planning and preparing.

They even made a program and, like Vanessa had always done, included lyrics to the songs we would sing.

A Christmas Queen?? Where does that factor into the Nativity?!

Clearly, those cousins have been watching A Charlie Brown Christmas! (The Christmas Queen was actually the narrator.)

The Christmas Queen part made me smile, but what Titan wrote at the end of the program made me laugh.

I guess he got tired of writing! (And he was right; we did all know the lyrics!)

The adults gathered when the kids called us into the family room. 

The stable was ready. (Turned out that the Baby Jesus/Melissa was already under that furry blanket!)

The under-18s did a fabulous job!

The PJ Elf Arrives!

Suddenly, the doorbell rang - the PJ Elf had come by!

New pjs were left for all the under-18s

and the older cousins, too! (Trinity loves to wrap gifts and will do it for anyone who asks.)

Honestly, someday I'd like the PJ Elf to drop off something for me, too!

Caroling

Our final activity of the night, and one I shared here, was caroling. 

Here's another video of us singing. This time it's Silent Night.

End of the Night Photos

Our kids - Sarah, Jessica, Kyle, Lisa, Curt, and Cole.

Our girls. How awesome to have those dearest to our hearts home for the holidays!