December 30, 2009

• Christmas

  I swear, my one & only New Year's resolution is to keep my site more updated & stay caught up with all of you!

  I know that I sound like a broken record, but WHERE is the time going to?
  Only 2 days left in this year...in this decade! yikes!
  I am about to embark on my 6th decade . Hubby pointed out that if I had been born 1 year earlier, it would be 7 decades.

  We had a nice Christmas.  We opened our gifts on Christmas eve. Saved our stockings (which are almost better than the gifts) for Christmas morning.

  I finally got a Wii! I have wanted Santa to bring the family one for the last couple of years, but hubby & daughter both said it was dumb or that they don't have time to play video games. Yeah well....it is hard for me to get them off of it!lol..  I also got the Bass Pro fishing game for it, so now I can fish year round, with or without hubby! lol....
  Other "big" gifts, was I got hubby a laptop. Plus he had already gotten his rifle early for hunting. Daughter got a GPS, (among many other things).

  The really big gift & best one of all was that I finally finished that Peacock cross stitch tapestry that I have been working on for over 10 years now! I didn't tell hubby & had brought it to a local frame shop, who was actually able to get it all finished up for me by Christmas eve day!

  I tried a new recipe for our Christmas dinner. Made a  roast beef tenderloin with a cranberry red wine sauce. mmmm good. I will post the recipe at the end of this post.

  I started  taking down my decorations yesterday. My house was just a mess & I was ready to get it back in order. Plus, I have had my tree up & the house decorated since the day after Thanksgiving. I spent the entire day yesterday working. Already have done more this morning. I have all of the Christmas stuff put away now. Now I need to put my regular stuff back out  & then thoroughly clean.
  I also have a follow up mammogram this afternoon. They had found a few abnormalities on my right breast  from my annual mammo & just wanted me to do a 6 month check up. So thinking positive that all will be just fine on that.

  Here are pictures from our Christmas. If you are on FB you have probably seen many of them already. But a few of you are not on it, so here you go....

   

  
  Christmas eve...

  
   Lori distributing the presents...

  
  Miss Pepper looks so pretty amongst the packages

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  Isn't  this perfect four our Zany family!

  
  And the grand finale...presenting the masterpiece!

  

  
  made with much love & many long grueling hours!

  
  Christmas morning....stockings!

  
  I love this!  on the necklace it says "I am blessed"
  How perfect is this for me!

  And am I stylin' or what....

  
  haha! fancy feet! loved these too!

  Later that day ....

  
  We clean up fairly nice don't we!

   

  
  Had to get a family picture in.

  
  just us girls

  
  me wearing my new stylin' reading glasses that daughter gave me!

  
  Christmas dinner....Cheers!

  ah....now it is all over....all of the hard work & planning & excitement...

  
  now time to relax!

   

  We will have a very quiet stay at home New Years eve. I am sure there will be some game playing including the wii.

  I am going to post that recipe & then get off of this computer & back to work.

  Roast beef tenderloin with cranberry-red wine sauce

  1 beef center-cut tenderloin roast (2 pounds)
  1 tablespoon olive oil
  salt & pepper to taste
  3 tablespoons butter, divided
  1/3 cup minced shallots
  1 garlic clove, minced
  1 cup dry red wine
  1 cup Ocean Spray 100% Cranberry juice
  3/4 cup beef broth
  1 teaspoon fresh chopped thyme

  Preheat oven to 425.  In a large skillet, brown beef in oil on all sides over medium-high heat.

  Transfer beef to a greased shallow roasting pan; season with salt & pepper. Set aside skillet with drippings.

  Bake roast at 425 for 20-25 minutes or until meat reaches desired doneness (145 for medium-rare,160 medium, 170 well done)

  Meanwhile, in the reserved skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat.  Add shallots' cook and stir for 1 minute. Add garlic; cook & stir for 20 seconds.
  Stir in wine; increase heat to high. Add the cranberry juice, broth and thyme; bringing to a boil.  Cook for 10-15 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium; whisk in remaining butter. Strain sauce. Slice beef & serve with sauce.

  6 servings.

   

   

  • 12:38 pm
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