Christmas Eve Dinner

Since we had our family Christmas on the 10th, we decided to invite the Budensiek's over for dinner. With work schedules to consider we chose Christmas Eve. The camera didn't get used much while they were here...

Rachel and Brenna got in a cheesy shot and there was a shot of Vern sleeping on the couch.. she wasn't feeling well and since I am her friend I am not going to show you that picture! That was it as far as people pictures.... how sad!

This morning I told my sister-in-law how to load pictures on here... you know, it has to be done in reverse order... well, between telling her and working on this I had a brain freeze or something. So, these are backwards, but that's ok.... it is just a tablescape.

I didn't want to use a large centerpiece because we had a lot of food to go on the table and we had 10 placesettings. I've had these candles for years and decided to do a variation of something I saw on Shanty2Chic.blogspot.com. You can see the inspiration piece on her 12.22.09 post. I really like it and may someday do it. She has lots of great ideas! I planned to use my cricut, but I found stickers that I had and it saved me some "work." That wonderful ribbon that is on the framed wreath in the living room showed up here, as well as the berries that are popping up all over the house.

I chose the gold brocade tablecloth. I got it on clearance at BBB a couple of years ago and just love it. The plates are Pfaltzgraf Winterberry. The glass dessert dish, that we used for salad, is from Dollar Tree and the chargers were also. The globets are Claret by Libby.

The gold napkins and the napkin rings were more clearance purchases from BBB. Ryan helped a little with putting the table together and chose the napkin placement. It is one of my favorite placements.

It was a time of joy to spend the evening with our friends. The menu included turkey, dressing (not as good as my Daddy's was!)and stuffing , mashed potatoes and gravy, homemeade noodles, green beans, carrots, broccoli slaw, deviled eggs, homemade potato rolls and lots of goodies for dessert! Kathy brought all the good healthy stuff and I did the starches! We played a game exchanging Dollar Tree gifts later in the evening. Don't know who go the "best" gift... think it was a tie... Rachel with the box of rocks, (decorative rocks, of course!) or Pete with the glo-stick jewelry! It was a fun night! Great friends, great memories! We did miss our oldest boys and their girls though!

I decided decorate the chairs. Dollar Tree had amazing Christmas decorations! I got the deer in a 2 pack and I got 3.5 chairs out of a roll of ribbon. I was very happy with the way they turned out. The problem was that they ended up sliding down. I tried to use glue dots to keep them in place, but that didn't work. I will have to work on that. But they were pretty!

Here's the whole table... I loved the dark red, gold and creams. As usual, Mr. Fye asked for someone to please pass the salt and pepper. Hands reached up and then halted as they realized everyone had their own.... he laughed, we groaned... Gotta love 'im!

For a year now I have been waiting for turkey leftovers to make this recipe. I know I could use chicken, but I made it for the first time last year and I used the turkey broth and meat. It was sooo good, and I think it is one of those recipes that I probably would only make once a year anyway. Who knows. Maybe this year I will try it with chicken. Anwyay, this is what we are having for lunch today with cornbread muffins.

White Chili

In a large saucepan cook until tender:

1 T oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 jalepano pepper, seeded and chopped

2 galic cloves, minced

Stir in:

4 cups chicken broth (0r turkey!)

2 15.5 oz. cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained

2 T parsley

1 T lime juice

1 t cumin

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occaisionally.

Combine and stir into chili:

2 T corn starch

1/4 c cold water

Add:

2 c cubed cooked chicken (or turkey!)

Bring to boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Enjoy!

Well, the new year will arrive this week. I am ready for a new year. I am not real big on New Year Goals, but if I were, I have one I am already working on that will be accomplished hopefully by the first of April! No foolin'! I may gather some thoughts on goals and share them. We'll see. I told Larry last night I am ready to get life back to normal. He asked what that is exactly... don't really know, but I'd like to find out!