Baxter Family Christmas Eve

The week of Christmas was filled with lots of cooking and baking, hoping to give us just lots of yummy leftovers to enjoy for the weekend. We had just a couple of things left to work on Christmas Eve day - deviled eggs and cinnamon rolls. Both ended up being big meal mishaps, with a mostly happy ending.

The 1st mishap was with the eggs. I had boiled 2 dozen eggs several days ahead, so they would just be ready to work with. I had put them in the outside freezer, knowing I would need all the extra room in both fridges. I sent Ceana out to get the eggs, only to discover that they were all frozen solid, rock hard. Little people had twiddled with the dial again. I tried to open a couple, only to find them completely encased in ice. We tried to let them sit and thaw, but most ended up hard and rubbery. I did end up salvaging about 8 out of the 24. I was just sick that they had gone to waste, and that we didnt have any time to make more before our dinner guests arrived. Will just be on the plan for New Year's Eve instead, and I will remember to NOT put them in the outside freezer. It does make me a little worried about the other 5 dozen eggs out there, though, I am hoping that by turning the fridge temp back down, they will be ok...guess we will see...

The 2nd mishap was with the cinnamon rolls. I had Kaeli make the yummy bread dough in the morning, so it would be ready to work with. We found out though, that our favorite bread dough is not sturdy or stiff enough for cinnamon rolls. The dough just oozed all over the countertop...I tried to cut some rolls, and got them into 1 pan. The rest of that dough got turned into cinnamon bread and baked in loaves. The other batch of dough got turned into 2 monster cinnamon braids. This mishap ended up having a happy ending, and Kaeli and I had fun "frosting" them with colored icing. Most of the treats we made were given away, and the rest is going into the freezer for another time. This is a pict Kaeli took of the one batch of cinnamon rolls. It is hard to tell from this pict, but they turned out monster huge.
We have started many new traditions for our own little family. One of them started many long years ago - opening 1 present on Christmas Eve which was always a new pair of PJ's. Our tradition has evolved in not only the new PJ's, but a treasure hunt along with it. The kids each take turns hiding a pair of PJ's and then they lead out with "hot or cold" as the other person looks through the house to find them. It is a riot watching the kids follow each other in a long line as you hear lots of giggles and "HOT! or COLD!" The kids get more creative every year, and the big kids have learned to be very sneaky. The primo spot this year was Preston finding his PJ's in the outside freezer -courtesy of Kaeli, who was very pleased with herself. The longest searching went on when Ceana was hunting out her PJ's - she found the "hot" spot, but Caiden had hidden them a little too well - under the huge stack of quilts and blankets in the upstairs linen closet. He had a good laugh at his job well done.

Normally, the kids would be taken on a secret shopping trip to pick out PJ's for each other. This year, since we knew we were going to be at special places during vacation, the PJ shopping went on at some of the fun places we visited. Kels and Ky got to pick out their PJ's at Sea World, and they were both VERY excited to have Shamu all over them. It was extra fun since they are both so little, that even though they had both picked out what they wanted, they had completely forgotten about them, so it was a surprise all over again. I am extra happy that is where we had picked them out since Sea World has been one of the really big things they both remember from vacation.
I was getting a bit worried that we were down to 2 days of outings on vacation and still hadnt found anything in the right sizes for the boys. I got the chance to do some hunting when we were at California Adventure, and found the perfect store. They didnt have matching PJ sets in the boys' sizes, but they did have T-shirts and sweat pants. I was able to pick out fun Mickey shirts for both of them. The pants I chose (just from guessing) are a bit big for them right now, but at least that assures me that they wont grow out of them anytime soon. They were both very happy with what I had chosen, and that is what really mattered most.
The girls got to pick out their PJ's at San Diego Zoo. Again, it was tricky to find something in the right sizes, and I was thankful that they had fun stuff in women's sizes for the girls. They are made of soft, fuzzy flannel, and should work well for both of them. I had a hard time getting their pict since the dogs both insisted on being in the pict too.
I was so happy to get one good pict of all the kids in their PJ's. Trying to get picts of the 6 of them usually results in someone not looking or making faces or such. This is just a fun one of everyone.