An Early Christmas

Kyle and Camille came home last weekend to celebrate Christmas with us.  As soon as the rain let up, Camille went outside and took selfies with the animals.

We had our Christmas Eve dinner Friday night; a tenderloin roast with roasted potatoes and mushrooms.  Saturday after chores, I cranked the Christmas music and we opened gifts.  The kids took Kersey for a walk in the drizzle but mostly we stayed inside, eating chocolates and cookies.  I made a heritage turkey for dinner.  Have you heard of them?  I keep reading about them and was curious to see if they taste as good as the articles say.  Think about the difference between a supermarket tomato bought in the winter compared to an heirloom variety plucked from the garden in the heat of summer.  That is the difference.  The dark meat was really dark; almost purple.  The skin was thick and hard to cut through.  The recipe I followed strongly suggested cutting off the thigh/leg quarters and cooking them first and then adding the breast later.  The dark meat takes a long time to cook and there is nothing worse than dry white meat -- especially when you've paid four times as much as usual for the turkey.  But, oh my, that bird was tasty!  We all agreed that it was worth every penny.

Sunday, Kyle and Camille headed over to Tahoe to ski.  Brett and I worked outside, cleaning up after the last storm.

The kids were home in time for dinner.  It is a definite benefit living so close to the Tahoe ski resorts.  Monday morning they loaded Kyle's car and drove to San Francisco where Kyle is now living and working.  He showed Camille around the city and they spent the night in his apartment.  This morning they drove down to Southern California to spend Christmas with their dad.  Kersey was not happy about them leaving.

It's the first time we've celebrated Christmas on a day other than Christmas itself and we liked it.  It did seem strange, though, at work today with people stressed about getting their shopping and holiday cooking done and I'm feeling all relaxed because I'm finished with all of that.