Eve of Christmas Eve Preparations, 2012

Okay, so we have a lot to do before tomorrow - Christmas Eve!

(A side note: for some reason when I uploaded these photos to my computer, the color looked really off . . . I tried to edit them on PicMonkey, but I don't know if that helped or made it worse.)

First, we had to get the "Santa plates" out of the china cabinet. We use these plates to serve Santa his milk and cookies, as well as give oats to the reindeer!

Yes, Livie has some of her art project stuff in the background. ;)


Then, since we're having posole for Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow night, I had to get the blue corn posole in a bowl so it can soak overnight (after which, I'll cook it for a couple hours in the slow cooker, then add all the other tasty ingredients).

Livie likes the fact that the corn looks blue, purple, and black. She can't wait to see what color it turns out once it's cooked.


Of course, we have to have cornbread with our posole. I'm using this cast-iron cornbread mold to bake the cornbread. Livie loves that we'll each get a serving of cornbread in the shape of corn on the cob!

And we can't forget the cookies! Livie helped me make most of these. She also helped taste-test them, too! Gotta make sure they're good enough for Santa! (They are - I taste-tested them, too!)

Chocolate chip (and snowmen, thanks to Livie)

Oatmeal scotchies (and holly, thanks to Livie)

Last but not least, the tree, decorations, and stockings have been up (since the weekend after Thanksgiving).

Now if I could only get her to cooperate at bedtime!!!

Merry Christmas!

We've had a wonderful Christmas!

It snowed like crazy on the night of the 23rd, and for most of the day on Christmas Eve. So when we went to Mass, we had to take it slow. There was just SO MUCH snow, around 6-8 inches in some areas!

Anyway, it was fun, and magical as we headed to and from church in the falling snow.

When we got back, all I had to do was heat up the chicken posole I'd made earlier in the day (click here and scroll down for the recipe). It was so good! Livie gobbled it up, and Andrew had two bowls, filled all the way to the top.

Livie ended up watching a DVD for a bit while I cleaned up and got her bath ready. She was extra cooperative when it was bath time.

We also had fun tracking Santa via NORAD's Santa Tracker. That was a blast. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, me or Livie!

Anyway, it was finally time for bed, and Livie was worried she wouldn't be able to fall asleep. She cooperated and got ready for bed, but she felt like she just had to tell me she was worried about falling asleep.

I told her to pretend to be asleep, and to imagine all the things Santa might bring, and that would help her to fall asleep. And guess what? She was asleep within minutes!

Which was good, because Andrew and I still needed to wrap a few gifts and get everything under the tree.

Oh, and by the way, the cookies and milk were delicious. They hit the spot. Thanks to "Santa" for letting his "helpers" eat the cookies! ;)

Livie's baking cookies! (This was a few days ago.)

Leaving cookies, milk, and oats for Santa and the Reindeer!

 (Yes, Santa is an Oklahoma Sooners fan!)

Santa left a note saying he appreciated Livie's great behavior, and that the cookies were yum-o!

Comet, on behalf of the reindeer team, thanked Livie for the oats!

This morning, a couple hours before Livie woke up, I turned on the Christmas tree lights, and the chile pepper lights I had on the railing.

 

Then I promptly fell back to sleep.

Around 7:45 AM, Livie came into our room and loudly announced, "Mommy!!" and then started going on and on about the presents under the tree and the new big girl bike Santa left!!

It was fun watching her open her gifts from "Santa" and family members.

 

 

The bike!!

Livie wants to say "Thanks" to "Santa" for all the gifts, like the bike and the Barbie Rapunzel and the Sleeping Beauty.

Also, thanks to Marissa and Jester (and Joe and Pia) for the beautiful sweater jumper.

And thanks to Auntie Sarah, Uncle Don, Sydney, and Richard for the great book, the dress-up dolls, and the princess cup!

Finally, I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Now, off to get ready to go over the river and through the woods to Abuelita's house!

But first, some hot chocolate, like this:

What's on the menu?

Tomorrow's Christmas Eve, obviously, and we're planning on having a nice, special home-cooked meal for dinner after Mass. I'll get to that recipe in a moment.

Tonight, however, I'm keeping the menu (and clean-up) really simple.

I went to the grocery store this morning to get the ingredients for tomorrow's Christmas Eve dinner. While I was there, I had an idea for tonight's dinner.

I figured we'd have homemade pizza tonight, since it would be easy to make, and easy to clean up. I got one of those pre-made pizza crusts (the Boboli kind), pizza sauce, a package of grated mozzarella cheese, spicy pepperoni, and sliced black olives (which Livie LOVES).

When it's time for dinner, I'll go ahead and pre-heat the oven with the pizza stone in there. Liv can help me top the pizza crust. Since she doesn't care for pepperoni, she'll do half with black olives (she and Andrew will eat that side), and the other half with pepperoni (which Andrew and I will eat).

I'll put it in the oven and take it out when it's time. It'll be tasty and clean up will be super easy. Basically, it'll be just the plates that go in the dishwasher.

Tomorrow, though, will be homemade chicken posole, which is a traditional Christmas meal in the Southwest in general, and New Mexico in particular. Oftentimes, posole is made with pork, but we're using chicken.

I'm using the following easy recipe using chicken, and it's from realsimple.com.

Chicken Posole
Serves 4
Hands-on Time: 10m
Total Time: 30m

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 32-ounce container low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 dried ancho chili, thinly sliced, or 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken meat
• 1 15-ounce can hominy, rinsed
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.

2. Add the onion and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes.

3. Add the broth, tomatoes, and chili and bring to a boil.

4. Stir in the chicken and hominy and simmer until heated through, 3 to 4 minutes.

5. Serve the posole with the lime wedges.

Tip

The posole can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months.

Nutritional Information

Calories 271; Fat 10g; Sat Fat 2g; Cholesterol 66mg; Sodium 788mg; Protein 26g;
Carbohydrate 21g; Fiber 4g

Since this version calls for shredded rotisserie chicken, I bought two today and stripped the meat off. I realized I needed only one, but I ended up using half the meat from the second (and eating the rest for lunch). 

I wanted to save as much time tomorrow as possible, so that's why I got the meat ready today. It seems like stripping the meat off the chicken would be the most time consuming step in getting all the ingredients ready for the recipe, so might as well get that done when I've got plenty of time. Recipe prep tomorrow should be a cinch!

A Few of my Favorite Things for This Time of Year

1. The smell of sweet treats baking in the oven
2. Eating sweet treats
3. Glistening snow - the way it looks like it's encrusted with bling:

Not the best photo (it was taken from behind a closed window in my family room) - if you click on it, I think the sparkles show up better. 

4. The way the snow crunches underneath my feet as I walk on it

5. Cool Cold weather, and bundling up in warm, cozy clothing (sweaters or sweatshirts, scarves, mittens, etc), and not having to complain about hot, humid, sticky, sweaty weather

6. Going outside in the cold, and being able to come back inside for some hot chocolate

7. Christmas decorations:

8. The Southwest at this time of year:

Postcard entitled "Farolitos at Twilight." Photo © 1996 Bill Bonebrake

9. New Mexican posole

10. Tamales

11. Candy canes, peppermint ice cream, and peppermint-flavored cocktails

12. The smell of wood-burning fireplaces (especially when they burn apple wood or some other good-smelling wood)

And yes, now I'm feeling saudade for the Southwest . . .

Chicken Posole Recipe - Real Simple Recipes

Chicken Posole Recipe | Real Simple Recipes

I just got this "Chicken Posole" recipe sent to my e-mail. I'm going to have to try it one day.

In New Mexico, posole is a stew that is traditionally eaten around Christmas. Oftentimes, it's made with pork. But this chicken recipe looks tasty and worthy of being tried. Hopefully the family will like it, too. Of course, it will probably make me feel saudade for New Mexico, but oh well. If the recipe ends up being yummy, it will be worth feeling a little saudade for it.

Now I'm craving Mexican food, especially tamales. Here's why: typically, tamales are also prepared and eaten around Christmas in Mexican culture, as well as in the Southwest (and probably other parts of the country). So, thinking of posole made me think of traditional Christmas food, and that, of course, made me think of tamales. Mmmmm . . .