Merry Christmas

As usual on Christmas Eve we went to my sister-in-law's house.  But on the way we stopped at my sister Natalie's house for a delicious home made egg nog.  Then on the way from there to Elva's house we got pulled over by the police.  Thank goodness Jorge refused the second drink he was offered and we were only given a fix-it ticket for our front headlight being out.  Usually we go to Elva's around 6pm then Jorge passes out on the couch at around 9 and is woken at 11:30 for gift opening at 12.  So it was nice this time we didn't arrive until 9.  We ate some tinga tostadas, tamales and octopus salad that I spent all morning making.  Then we hung out for a while and midnight came upon us surprisingly quick.  Tre did not sleep the entire time.  Normally he sleeps 7:30pm to 7 am but he did not go to sleep until 12:30am!

He drank so much water while there that unfortunately by the time we got home he peed through so didn't get to wear his Christmas pajamas on Christmas morning. Tre loved playing with his slinky.

Here he is in his Itty Bitty Ella Belly baby doll carrier with his super soft stuffed elephant from our zoo adventure last weekend.

Rambo and Dino of course got treats.  Not as many as last year but they had something to enjoy at least.

Here is Tre opening his new shoes.

Then we went to Grammy and Papa's house for breakfast.  Tre didn't eat anything but fruit and was super exhausted from the night before.  So we went for a ride and he took a 2 hour nap in the car.  But when he woke up he was so hot we took his temperature and discovered 101.8.  He'd never had a fever before.  In fact I'd never even taken his temperature before.  So we stayed home for a while.

We knew we should not have but we went back to my parents anyways to open presents since my sister had arrived.  Tre did his best to play with his toys but really wasn't feeling well so we went home before dinner.

Here are some of my wonderful gifts.  My amazing brother Nick made chile infused olive oil.  The bottles and oil he brought back from his trip to Italy in October and the chiles he grew in his garden.  I look forward to doing some cooking with chile oil soon.

My sister Shauna made me a menu board that I'll soon hang in my kitchen. And my mom bought me a gluten-free baking cookbook and mixing bowls.

I made two recipes since I have been wanting cookies and every time I make them they quickly disappear.  So here are my homemade butter cookies.  They came out very good.  Next time I'll add a little sugar and time in the oven.

My shortbread cookies on the other hand did not work out.  They called for sweet rice flour which I didn't have and my substitution didn't work.  Sadly they were so flat they crumbled.

What should I made next?  Hmmm we'll see.