Should You Eat the Yellow Part of Snow Pudding?

The week before Christmas weather blew in to make sure it was a white Christmas in Connecticut.  It was stormy enough on Sunday morning that churches throughout the area cancelled their Christmas Sunday services—although this never happened to us when we lived through many snow storms in Vermont we need to remember that this is the southern part of New England.

It stayed cold through the week so there was plenty of snow for Jess to see when she arrived on Wednesday.  She caught a red-eye flight out of Phoenix on Tuesday night and fortunately she was able to upgrade on the flight and able to sleep on the plane. Calvin was glad to see Jess and spends time following her around.  He also likes that someone waits on him and occasionally gives him some treats.

Nana and Papa also arrived on Wednesday so the house started to have the fuller feeling of a holiday.  Sarah obviously couldn’t make the trip from OZ but we were able to have some video calls with her—using Skype—over the past few days.  Not the same as being here, but it sure was great to see and speak with both Sarah and Andrew.

On Christmas Eve morning Nana and Papa woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep.  So they stayed up and made the oyster stew for us to enjoy later that day.  Jess and I also got up early and headed to the gym for a core-strength and stretching class.  Much of the rest of the day was spent doing last minute errands—picking up the beef for the Christmas dinner—and putting together the last touches for Christmas Day.

The Christmas Eve service—not enough cold or snow to stop this service—was very well attended.  We took our normal balcony seats—we sit up there so we can see Cheri ring bells—and it is nice to look down over the congregation, particularly when everyone lights their candle and sings Silent Night.

Following the service Nana and Papa headed back to the house while the rest of us went to Jamie and Martha’s house for a Christmas Eve celebration.  There was great food and company and we ended staying well into Christmas morning playing games and visiting before heading back home.

The next morning we were not up as early as when there were younger—much younger—people in the house.  While some final breakfast preparations were made, some of us also took some time to catch up on events in the newspaper.  Then it was time to move in by the fireplace, make sure Nana was warm enough and open stocking gifts.  Santa was able to make it to Connecticut overnight and the stockings were overflowing.  Although some coal was expected in some of the stockings we must have been just nice enough to avoid that fate.

Following stocking time we moved back into the kitchen for one of our family Christmas morning traditions…eggs benedict.

It was a team effort getting breakfast ready.  The hollandaise sauce was made up fresh, english muffins toasted and smeared with cream cheese, the Canadian bacon heated and eggs poached—to the runny yolk stage…which is the best.  A fruit salad was made up the day before (and refrigerated…just in case you are concerned) and as everything was plated the presentation was very festive.  The black specks are fresh ground pepper and the orange specks are Aelea Sea Salt from Hawaii.

A couple of us acted as elves—Santa’s Helpers—in getting the presents out from under the tree.

After satisfying ourselves with a great breakfast we took the time to set up the gorilla tripod and get a group picture before getting the presents out from under the tree. Of course this meant that some of us got to wait for the gifts to be delivered…one of those benefits of being the ‘senior’ members present.

It wasn’t much longer before the Whitney family arrived and we extended the celebration through the afternoon and into the evening.


We were also fortunate to be able to Skype with Sarah and Andrew while everyone was at our house.  There were some comical moments with the video call since Sarah was receiving the video with about a 90 second delay.  So although they could hear us in real time and we  could both hear and see them in real time, the video from the US followed a delay.  That meant we could tell her what to expect in the video or—as Tim did—someone could dance along behind Cheri while she was talking and then Sarah would start laughing more than a minute later.  Even with the technical difficulties it was great to see the two of them during our Christmas Day (it was already Boxing Day in OZ).

We had a great Christmas Dinner of prime rib, glazed carrots, sour cream hash-brown potatoes, and jello salad.  There were also a few bottles of wine enjoyed with the appetizers and the main meal. 

Too soon it was time for the Whitney Clan to head off to New Jersey, but fully understandable since they had been with Scott’s family since Tuesday.  It would be good for them to get home to spend some down time as a family.

The day after Boxing Day…

We were on the road to New Hampshire on Sunday to spend some Christmas time with the extended Swenson Family.  Bill and Sheila hosted this year’s event and a great smorgasbord was set out with contributions from many.

With so many family members around we did take some time for group photos (without our Sarah…but we did get a chance to talk to her and pass the phone around the gathering).
Of course some of the time was spent visiting, [more] cooking, knitting, or laying around having a ‘healthy swing’—one of Sheila’s Christmas gifts that we all lined up to try.
It was a wonderful evening and—not that we need it—a great reminder of family being together at Christmas.  A great Swenson Adventure to [almost] finish the year.