We must have been on his "good" list...

It was a very nice Christmas at the Joey/Jamie/Jesse/Dodger homestead. Santa was very thoughtful and we are very grateful.

It started on December 15th, to be exact (Christmas, that is.) Me, Jamie and Grandma Dem drove down to my Dad's house in Virginia. The weather was lovely: it was dry, no rain, no snow, no problem. While we were there we went Christmas shopping; we went to an enormous Christmas tree farm (can you believe that they only charged $3/foot for the trees?? I spent $35 on a shitty little 5 foot jobber); I had the pleasure of decorating their living room and their beautiful tree (I hope they took pictures...it should be in a magazine); my Dad made us a delicious beef roast complete with potatoes, carrots, celery and my very special Orange Braised Fresh Green Beans with Buttered Cashews; we opened presents, had cocktails (many); had a wonderful, wonderful time. Here's what phenomenal gifts we got from my Dad, Marla, Bryanna and Matthew:

• I got a Chaps sweater.
• Jamie got a Starter (I think) thermal sweatshirt.
• We got a limited edition Yankee Candle (I LOVE Yankee candles).
  
• We got a beautiful hurricane candle holder (cranberry red, like our living room), we have 6 other cranberry vases and candle holders that it matches perfectly.
  
• My sister and her husband gave us a lovely card with money and a Petsmart gift certificate...and a BEAUTIFUL cake plate and blender (almost forgot that!)
  
• My Dad informed me the his loan (a few months ago) was a gift.
• Grandma got lots of things too...most special was a scrap book of Katie's wedding (Bryanna made it.)

Grandma's birthday is on December 21st. She's celebrating her annual 39th birthday (I keep telling her that I'll hit 40 before she does!). Jamie and I made her the meal she requested: roasted pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes with butter and sour cream, California blend vegetables, a fresh garden salad, and a little cake. She loved it.

Wow-wee...not to forget...we hosted a Christmas party on the 23rd! We had a great time (although we went a bit broke too). We had roast beef with kimmelweck rolls and horseradish, fresh polish sausage with sauerkraut, cocktail meatballs, 2 lbs. of shrimp cocktail, devilled eggs, marble rye bread with dill dip, chips and salsa, nuts, a relish tray, candy, two cheese balls with mixed crackers, Christmas cookies, booze up the wazoo, beer, wine, coffee...you name it. All sorts of family came over: my Mom's, my step-fathers, my Demerly family. I missed not having some people there but we had a wonderful time regardless.

Then came Christmas.

After watching the old fashioned animated Christmas stories and the traditional Christmas television fare, I wrapped a couple presents and went to bed. When we woke up we were very surprised at how nice Santa had been to us. Here's what we found under our tree on Christmas morning (fire ablaze and all):

• A Farberware pots and pan set.
• A Joyce Chen wok set.
• A very expensive cooking knife (I think they call it a Sankto?)
• A mandolin cutting thingy.
• Four green glass plates (to match my collection).
• A Wet-Jet Swiffer (complete with extra solution and pads)
• Other Swiffer crap (we have two dogs and hard wood floors...you do the math.)
• White dish pan, drainer and drying rack for the sink.
• A spoon rest (yes, that sounds silly...but my Mother and Step-Father bought us a brand new stove and Santa must have known that we didn't want to dirty it up too fast.)
• A KitchenAid utility set (spatula, kitchen shears, can opener and something else I forget.)
• The doggies got lots of treats and toys.
• Many other things from friends and family that I'm far too tired to type right now.

We both consider ourselves very fortunate and very lucky...but I'm taking the fucking Christmas decorations down tomorrow.

Ho ho ho and a bottle of rum. I hope you were as fortunate as we were.