A Merry Virginia Christmas

The Happy Bissell Family

Jill And Her Girls

It's a clear morning so far, as I sit here with Drew at 7:30, hoping the girls, Evie and Jill sleep in for another hour or so.  No snow in this part of the States, which is fine with me.  I have been spending most of the day inside anyways.  We are watching Sports Center, not very Christmas like but everything will change once Halle and Hayden get up.  Then the fun begins.

Cozy and Warm on Christmas Eve

Yesterday was a day of waiting for the girls, hanging out for the adults, with only one trip to the store to get some ice.  It's hard to remember what we did other than enjoy the day, each other, and watch some meaningless football game on TV.  We were having Evie's Greek Lemon chicken for dinner, with garlic spinach and rice,  Jill's favorite dinner.  So Evie did some prepping early before Drew, Halle and Hayden put together a chocolate lasagne, layers of chocolate graham crackers, Reese's pieces, crushed peanuts, a peanut butter and cream cheese frosting, topped with whipped cream, a sinful dessert.  Drew and his family are chocolate and peanut butter fanatics, so they always have a competition.  I think this one might win.

Making A Chocolate Peanut Butter Lasagna

Late afternoon, friends of Jill and Drew's were coming over for a libation and appetizers, so Evie prepped dinner just before they came and had it in the oven as they were greeted by the wildly barking dogs.  They are a neat couple and have lived all over the States as well as a number of years in The Netherlands.  David works for the DEA so he had some good stories to tell.  His wife, Suzette, and son, Jake, brought a special appetizer under a dish towel, and when it was unwrapped it, we all yelled hanky pankies, an appetizer Evie always makes.

Enjoying Christmas Eve With The Larsons

They laughed, had never heard it called that before and thought it was a specialty from Chicago called Jimmy Dean's.  They stayed until about 7:30 as we all were enjoying each other, the libations and appetizers.  We had our dinner after 8:00 and sat around talking until 9:30 and were so full that we decided to put off the dessert until Christmas Day dinner.

Christmas Eve Dinner (Jill Enjoyed the Creamed Spinach!)

We then watched Polar Express if you can call it watching as all of us were on our phones, iPads, or computers, looking at photos from relatives on Facebook, or photos we had taken during the day.  We went to bed, reluctantly, at 11:00, hoping to get a good night's sleep.