Christmas Eve yummies

(Later - 3:17 pm)
Cookies are done, pie is done, and what the heck - I made an apple crisp to take tonight too, just because I was having so much fun.
Now it's 3pm and I need to get the house clean, 2 kids bathed, and myself all prettied up by 7:30. Oh and cook hubby dinner, since he's not a fan of oyster stew - I think this is the one meal out of the year his parents say tough it out kid, and don't pander to his limited palate.
Between spending 3 hours on my feet in the kitchen and taking a mile walk with the dog this morning - he's a leash puller, now my arms are aching - I decided I needed a bit of a soother. So I cracked that bottle of bubbly open a bit early.
Ahhhhh. Merry Christmas Eve!

11:52am -
Christmas Eve is a day of baking for me. I put off baking cookies til the last minute, as I've learned from painful experience that the longer they're in the house, the more I will eat. So bake today, eat today, give the rest away tomorrow. Yay! No more temptation. (I do have a small goodie bag from Mom - she mails me some of her yummies with the Christmas present box, so I've not totally deprived myself or my kids from sweets.)

And pies. My father in law makes a delicious oyster stew for dinner on Christmas Eve, and I bake pecan pie.

Then there's Christmas morning brunch, here at my house. Muffins and banana bread and biscuits with ham and sausage, oh my. (And bagels with lox and cream cheese and fruit platters and eggs and mimosas and juice and ...)

On Christmas night it's back to the inlaws, where it's my mother in laws turn to cook - usually Italian, always yummy. I'll take apple and pumpkin pie for that.

And the cookies. Cookies all day today, all day tomorrow, with every meal and some in between. Chocolate chip and peanut butter and butter press cookies (Christmas trees and wreaths and whatever other shape appeals to the 11 year old wielding the cookie press). This year gingerbread cut outs, so the three year old gets to have fun decorating. Oatmeal raisin if there's time.

I'll be off to Birmingham for a quick visit with my side of the family Monday - and more yummy goodness there, since both my sisters will have baked as well. I hope you're having a yummy Christmas Eve, or holiday eve wherever you are spending it, and that Santa brings you everything you deserve for 2005.