Holiday dispatch

We had such a nice quiet Christmas this year, staying in our cozy apartment. It was fun to decorate a new space after having decorated the same living room for 8 straight years. That room had a lot of very dark stained walnut woodwork, and so with decorations, it quickly became a lot to take in.

I broke up the week by working on the comic from around 9-5 with an hour break for lunch each day, and then in the evenings worked on baking. On Christmas Eve, we decorated cookies, dropped some off at Chris's parents' house and swapped gifts (with masks; we were only inside for a few minutes), and then went home and Zoomed into my childhood church's last candlelight Christmas Eve service. The church started around 100 years ago and is shutting its doors for good today. After that, Chris's extended family had a Zoom call while we cooked.

We made a later dinner, then we watched A Christmas Carol (with George C. Scott) and went to bed. In the morning we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, opened gifts, and made dinner. There were a lot of desserts throughout the day. In the evening we went for a walk (it was strangely mild and breezy), and then watched Charlie Brown Christmas and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone while we played Wingspan (the most amazing board game ever).

Ornaments

I always feel the need to capture some of my favorite ornaments, too. New ornaments this year include: a glass pierogi (nod to our Ukrainian roots from my cousin Emily), guinea pig, cardinal, and snowman from from my mom, a penguin that I picked up at the Corning Museum last holiday season, and a felt owl that I found at an arts market here in Mansfield. I included some other pretty ones, and a couple from my Harry Potter collection from childhood.

Cooking and baking!

For baked goods this year, I made pumpkin pie, poppyseed bread, decorated cutout cookies, and sugar cookies with almond extract. For Christmas Eve dinner, we did pierogis with mushrooms and onions, minestrone soup, and homemade applesauce with rolls and ginger ale. For Christmas day, we did deviled eggs, a casserole with potatoes, onions, and cheese (my mom's "cheesy taters"), green beans with garlic and parsley, and maple ham (for Chris), more pierogis (for me), and sparkling cider. It was a lot more dishwashing that we are used to for two people! But so worth it :)

These aren't great quality photos, but we enjoyed using my grandmother's dishes to celebrate. The fancier dishes and platters are decorated with tiny ornate roses.