More about Christmas

We had the most delightful time this year. I think this was the first Christmas where it really felt like we were doing it as a family, just me and J and the cats, and then of course our wonderful friends. Our neighbors brought over their 19-mo-old son (who is baby Jesus in my mind's eye) and he made the evening quite enjoyable (and a little scary...let's just say we have too many nice things to consider having children yet!). He's the cutest. Here's a picture of him eating our soup:



I've already mentioned how wonderful church was that morning, and the afternoon of cleaning and cooking was a whirlwind but eventually we got down to the main event of eating. This was our menu, prepared by my husband, who refuses any help in the kitchen with cooking or cleaning (I know, I'm really lucky):

Christmas Dinner

Aperitif
Pomosa: Cristalino Brut Cava, Spain with fresh pomegranate juice
Asparagus & strawberries with balsamic cream cheese; herb-rolled smoked sausage; truffle tiles

Amuse-Bouche
Chicken liver mousse on tiny toast
Acacia 2004 Chardonnay, Carneros

Potage
Shrimp bisque with brandy and sherry
Domecq Amontillado, Spain

Entrée
Green apple and butternut squash casserole
Louis Jadot 2004 Beaujolais-Villages, Burgundy

Plat Principal
Muscovy duck in a sauce of fig & port with star anise

Légume
Salad of pomegranates, green beans, jicama and walnuts

Fromage
Selection of Stilton, Gruyere, and Camembert with mission figs
Casa de la Ermita Monastrell 2004, Spain

Fin
Pumpkin cheesecake and Christmas Cookies

Café et Porto

Yummy! I was just finishing off the bisque today...heaven! Of course, following all this we had egg nog, dark chocolate, and sat around smoking apricot tobacco in my neighbors' authentic mosque-purchased hookah. It was a sweet way to end the evening! A good new tradition too...although let me tell you, when I sent photos to our parents, they were none too happy. They both immediately called to ensure we weren't doing anything illegal nor getting addicted or anything like that. Ah, parents.

Anyway I've just been chilling since then. We could barely move the day after, from hangovers and sheer exhaustion. Yesterday we went to the Getty museum then got stuck in one of those freak LA traffic jams in which it takes 1/2 hour to go 1 mile. It took 2 hours to get home from a place about 20 miles away. That's painful.

So today I'm still in my jammies at 3:31 pm so it looks like things will stay this way. Although J just took a shower, so perhaps we'll be going out. I gave him a gift cert to a great ice cream store in town - maybe we'll have ice cream for dinner. A nice change from the cheesecake, which has been dinner the last couple nights. Ah, leftovers.

I can't believe school starts again in one week! I need to start working on homework. But I'm totally engaged in Living Buddha, Living Christ and Anne Rice's Christ the Lord right now. Plus I'm enjoying my movies so much. This is a rather long break, but I'll tell you, I'm not remotely bored yet. I'm not ready to go back to school, for once in my life. I really want to stay on vacation! I must be overly tired.

Okay, I'm going to go. Too much fun stuff to do before I have to get back to business.