Almost Christmas!

It's been a busy few days around here, as I'm sure it is with everyone who celebrates Christmas and procrastinates as much as I do!

 

This morning I sat down and planned out the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day foods, and then went grocery shopping. The meal plans are:

 

Christmas Eve - I'm going to make a nice home-cooked from scratch Chicken Pot Pie with a biscuit crust. This is a family favorite and nice "comfort food" for Christmas Eve. We'll just have a simple green salad with it. I normally cook either a roast or lasagna, but I wanted something fairly easy to fix and that Brayden might actually eat. (The child is a fussy eater!)  For dessert, I'm going to make what we call "A Christmas Cake" but which is actually a white cake with the layers pierced and cherry (red) and lime (green) jello dripped down through the layers, then all covered in Cool Whip. It couldn't be easier, and yet it couldn't be more Christmasy.

 

For Christmas breakfast - We'll be having waffles, bacon, sausage and a mixed fruit salad with a vanilla yogurt dressing (which Brayden will eat). I will make scrambled eggs if anyone wants them. I'll also make a crumb cake  for morning snacking. When Jeff was shopping today he bought cinnamon swirl bread for cinnamon toast and Dunkin' Donuts coffee, so we'll incorporate those into breakfast. And I have a variety of juices as well.

 

For Christmas Buffet - We'll have our standard "dog poop" (hamburger, sausage, velveeta cheese cooked in a slow cooker and served on pumpernickle and rye mini breads), Buffalo chicken wings, assorted crackers, cheeses and dips, as well as more fruit.

 

The buffet is cooked in the late morning, then put on the kitchen table in crock pots so that anyone can eat whenever they feel like. I don't like a sit-down dinner on Christmas Day -- I want a holiday too! So the buffet works out well.

 

I still have things left to do! I have all the big presents wrapped, but need to wrap stocking items still. I have two world war II documentaries still to put on DVD for Jeff, to accompany his "The War" audio book. And believe it or not, I still need to make one more trip out shopping -- I'm not happy with what I've gotten Mary so far! I have two other things in mind and will go out first thing in the morning and get them. Luckily the main shopping areas aren't 2 miles from my house so it won't take long.

 

I remember the year when I had ALL my shopping done and everything wrapped in October....sigh sigh sigh. I need to get more organized and think ahead about this kind of thing. There are so many FUN things to do this time of year, but it's all going by the wayside because I'm busy playing catch-up.

 

Next year will be better!