Christmas 2008 Memories, Part Four

See that coffee cake in the left center of the photo? I have used the same recipe since I was, well, since I found it before I was married (that'd be nearly 25 years ago). It's deliciously fattening, made with heavy cream, evaporated milk, butter, and a filling of sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts. The only change I've made to the original recipe is to make the dough in the bread machine.

We always eat Christmas breakfast together, savoring grapefruit and coffee cake.
Following breakfast, Phil reads the Christmas story from the book of Luke, then we open gifts. Grace paused to have her picture taken with Kelly, who is reluctantly wearing her hat. (Hey, she didn't like the elf ears, either.)
Callie took it all in stride. Her white sidekick, Klaus, was nowhere to be seen.
Do you think Grace liked her monkey bathrobe? The girl is ga-ga for monkeys!
She was even more excited about her piano music to the musical Wicked, which she had Sarah saw on the stage recently.
Phil liked the heavy duty scissors he got to use in his workshop. They're cool!
Sarah was sitting next to me, so I didn't get any pictures of her. Oh, and I apologize for the glare in some of the pictures - the sun was actually shining!

Although I didn't get any crafting gifts, I did get a gift card to A.C. Moore. Phil also gave me the DVD of Mansfield Park; the new Rush of Fools CD, Wonder of the World; and a book by B. J. Hoff, one of my favorite authors. Sarah gave me some unfinished (knitted) socks, and Grace got me a new Dustbuster.

It was a quiet day at home, just the four of us. Our dinner of turkey and the works was delicious, and none of us got food poisoning from having to use the cooler and garage as a refrigerator since ours stopped working on Christmas Eve. We even learned some interesting things from watching Mythbusters later in the day. We still have to open gifts with my parents when they return from Chicago, and with Phil's family. Of course, by the time you read this, those events will probably have taken place. The wonders of Blogger's feature that allows us to schedule posts for later publication.

Time to start preparing for Christmas 2009! (Ha, ha.)