A White And Merry Christmas Morning

Loving The Snowfall And Cold

7:43

Well, it's still pitch black outside and I have been up since 5:15, fire blazing and fortunately, Santa has already been here.  We received three or four inches of snow yesterday afternoon in less than an hour and then it stopped. leaving behind a lovely world of white.

Snow Begins at 12:30 PM

Three Of Four Inches by 1:15 PM

As usual, the adults in the room were up first, Beth around 7:00 and both Evie and I followed at 8:00, having slept in for the first time, at least for me, since college (fake news).  The boys were next, then Marisa but by the time she was up, the boys, Beth and I already had our breakfast of crepes, with jam or sugar and lemon, with scrambled eggs on the side, a good way to start the day before Christmas.

We then hardly budged from our home until early afternoon.  Tyler was playing a game, Mitch working on a project for his architectural engineering class, and Marisa was on her iPhone snapchatting, or playing a game with Rami who is in Florida visiting with his Mom.  Since we were having a "classic" Christmas Eve dinner, chicken tikka masala, Palak Paneer, spinach with paneer cheese, and homemade naan, Evie was busy in the kitchen prepping the chicken and dinner and Tyler was putting together the dough for the naan, his specialty.  Beth was upstairs for at least a couple of hours, wrapping presents, getting the stockings ready just in case Santa does not come.

The Chefs

Around 1:00, a couple of us finally found some mojo, so Marisa and Tyler drove off to the gym for a workout.  Evie made matzo ball soup for lunch and Beth finished up her wrapping.  When Tyler and Marisa returned, we enjoyed the warming and filling soup and were ready to relax until 4:00.  By then, it had snowed at least four inches, so Evie talked the boys into going for a walk through the Victoria/Woodlawn woods, just behind our house.

Hiking With Her Grandsons

It was a gorgeous late afternoon, trees frosted with white, trails untouched except for an occasional deer track.  We were out for forty minutes, just enough to work up and appetite and feel good about ourselves, having gotten in some exercise.

The Woods

Mitch Keeping Warm

When we returned, Beth had gotten out all the makings for Bloody Mary's, so I made four of them, with horseradish, hot sauce, vodka, celery salt, pepper, lemon, and a stick of celery.  They were so good that both Beth and I had two although Evie kept taking sips of my second one.  We gorged on two kinds of cheese, the unexpected cheddar from Trader Joe's, and a Castello, which is brie with blue cheese, another one of our favorites.

Grilling Naan In The Snow

Around 6:30, we started to get dinner ready.  The chicken tikka masala was already made, just heating up in the oven.  So Evie made the Palak Paneer while Tyler and I fired up the grill and baked the Naan as it was snowing, pretty cool.

Evie And Her Helpers

We were able to have the hot naan with our Indian dinner and by the time we were finished eating, only a few pieces of naan were left.  Our traditional Christmas Indian dinner was a success.

Christmas Eve Dinner, Indian Style

We ended the night with some of us watching what Tyler called a Christmas movie, DIE HARD because it was set on Christmas Eve. No laughs or silliness, no ELF or CHRISTMAS VACATION for us, just Bruce Willis's grimaces and lots of shoot'em ups.  Needless to say, Beth, Evie and I went to bed early.

As I finish writing this, the house is still quiet, the lake dark, at 6:55.  Time for me to take a nap.