Weekending - December 21, 2018

Happy Christmas Eve!  It definitely doesn't feel like a Monday and we just had a weekend.  Here's the recap of what I was up to ~

I sneaked out of work a bit early on Friday to come home and make fruitcakes for my dad.  I know there's not many people that enjoy fruitcakes, but my dad loves them.  The recipe I use comes from the 1982 Southern Living Cookbook and makes three loaves.  The concoction consists of 64 ounces of candied fruit, 6 cups of nuts, 10 eggs, plus flour, sugar, butter and flavoring.  I've been making them for about as many years as the cookbook's age.  When Ian was little, he used to stand on a chair beside me at the counter and "help".  He would chop the nuts and crack the eggs.  I'm sure a couple of years the fruitcakes had the added ingredient of egg shells!  Regardless, making them with my son is a memory I'll always cherish and it makes me a bit sad when I make them without him now.

Friday night Eric and I ventured to my mother-in-law's house to visit with Eric's sister and nephew.  They were in town for just a few days and it was great we got to spend some time with them while they were here.  We used the opportunity to snap a few pictures and have a few laughs.

Saturday morning I packed up and journeyed to my home town to celebrate Christmas with my family.  Watching the faces of my niece and nephews open their presents was so fun!

Besides celebrating Christmas, Saturday was a special day for another reason.  My parents were celebrating 56 years of marriage.  Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!

I made it home just in time to meet up with Eric and join some of our neighbors for a Christmas carol sing-along  It was the first year our subdivision gathered at the community gazebo and belted out some Christmas tunes.  It was fun and hopefully the start of a neighborhood tradition.

Sunday morning we had just enough time to sneak in a movie before Eric had to run off to work.  We chose Mary Poppins Returns.  It was beautifully done!  Emily Blunt did a fantastic job.  Have you seen it yet?

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Our is going to be very low key.  We got a couple great kitchen items as presents and I can't wait to open those boxes and put them to use.  One is an air fryer and the other is an indoor grill.  From the ads I've seen recently, I bet there are going to be a lot of air fryers under trees this year.  Let me know if you have one and what you love to cook in it.

Merry Christmas!