Christmas season begins on the day we pick up a Christmas Tree!
RM and Moe set a family record
by picking a Christmas tree under 30 minutes!
Though it's a chilly night, that doesn't prevent my boys from wearing shorts.
We have a deal every year that if they want me to bake,
they have to clean the living room and decorate the tree by themselves.
I think that's a fair deal!
I made jam pocket pies and jumbo lemon poppy seed muffins.
We don't do mini desserts in this house!
I'm in a baking frenzy during the Christmas season!
This year I made the New Zealand Brandy raisin cake or as most Polynesians call it "fruit cake".
But it taste so much better than a traditional fruit cake!
Every Christmas Eve we take a drive to my sister's house in Castro Valley located in the East Bay, less than a 2 hour drive from our home. Traditionally our Christmas Eve is always bigger than Christmas Day festivities.
This Christmas Eve was nice because my mother was feeling better.
My nephew Tommy and Moe are both only children.
So they have a special bond and my sister and I were present at each of our boy's birth's!
We had so much fun on Christmas Eve we didn't leave my sister's home until 1am in the morning and arrived home at about 2:30am!
I slept in until 9am on Christmas morning, got into my brand new PJ's (mom always gets me and my sister new PJ's every year) and my new Christmas socks and enjoyed a few hours by myself on Christmas morning before "my boys' woke up.
Moe and RM finally woke up to open up Stocking stuffer gifts
and then Moe promptly went back to bed.
RM and I went to Starbucks for peppermint hot chocolate and pastries
and came back home and went right back into bed!
Moe has been working temporarily until he goes back to school
and bought this beautiful bangle bracelet for me with his first paycheck!
The boy has good taste!
The great thing about having Christmas with just our family is that there's no time table!
We eat when we feel like it!
Traditionally RM makes the main dishes for our major holidays so he cooked,
while I relaxed and took pictures!
We wanted a Polynesian feast for our Christmas dinner. Pictured here is deep fried fish topped with coconut cream and onions.
RM made a delicious leg of lamb with asparagus.
We invited a cousin of RM's who lived in the next town for dinner and after dinner sang songs and played music.
One song that they were practicing is "Hallelujah", it was a beautiful rendition with the lyrics changed to the birth of the savior. Cousin Will is a phenomenal vocalist, RM is a talented musician and is awesome in arranging music, and Moe has become quite an accomplished guitarist.
As for my musical talent....I'm great at humming!
Another great Christmas!
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