Mele Kalikimaka

We had a great Christmas this year. Amy and I both didn't like the idea of ham or turkey for Christmas Eve dinner so when she suggested Mexican I said "what about 'Christmas Around The World'". I think more dinners should have pretentious titles. Well, we did it and it is the first of many many more to come. Here is our menu:

Thai green curry (Amy)
Asian lettuce wraps (Amy)
Quinoa and couscous salad (Amy)

North African lamb kebobs (Meg). . .I was thinking Kwanzaa
Saffron Breakfast Bread (Meg) for Scandinavia's St. Lucia Day
Latke and Caramelized Onion and Apple Chutney (Meg) for Hannukah. . .thank you Claudia for the idea for the latke.

It was so good and so fun to try new recipes and have such a random assortment. Lily, who typically will eat NO meat, ate more lamb than I did! I guess I should make it more often (that was my first attempt at lamb).

The missionaries from Amy's ward joined us and we roped them into participating in the nativity. The costumes the kids came up with were classic.

Christmas morning was a little anticlimactic. I had stayed up arranging the few gifts on Lily's chair and strung lights around them and the stockings which I had laid out on the couch. Chris got Lily up and then I sat waiting with the video camera to capture her reaction to the display. As she walked in, I got one half-hearted 'oh' in response to the lights and then she marched right past the lights, right past the gifts, right past me and into the kitchen. She started banging on the pantry and signing 'cereal'. I guess the girl has her priorities down. Food first. Presents later.