I just wondered if anyone was doing anything out of the ordinary for Christmas? My husband and I are going to myrtle beach for the weekend. Gona go to captain Georgie's and have crab legs for Christmas dinner.

__________________
In the cookies of life, we are the chocolate chips.

Lou, we have a big celebration on Christmas Eve... open house, food, friends, music (live), etc... in the past we went out for christmas dinner, but we havn't made plans for this year yet....

we will see, maybe just eat leftovers....
c

__________________
http://www.youravon.com/cnorulak
carolyn in texas
started 8/11/03 327/268/177
5/20/08/ - 348
onward thru the fog

Same ol', same ol' here! LOL!

Christmas Eve, just DH and my Mom, I make cracked fresh Dungeness crab, peel & eat jumbo prawns, steamed artichokes, LC focaccia bread, and a dessert as yet undecided upon. We open our gifts.

Christmas Day, we go to my Dad and StepMom's, joined by my sister and her SO, open gifts, then eat Prime Rib, sauteed veggies, peas & onions, and I will make a LC lemon bundt cake with cream cheese icing for dessert. And plenty of good Silver Oak cabernet!

We don't have any kids around at all, and my DSS (dear stepson) has just arrived in Iraq (Army tank commander) so we can't count on even hearing from him on Christmas, let alone get a gift of any sort to him.

Char

__________________
Veni, vidi, velcro. I came, I saw, I stuck around.

Save the Earth - it's the only planet with CHOCOLATE!

Hey, maybe I need to head to Texas, instead of myrtle beach...lol! have a good one... merry christmas.

__________________
In the cookies of life, we are the chocolate chips.

I am not doing anything extraordinary for Christmas, which is just how I want it.

My mother is coming to stay for a few days. Saturday evening we will go to the early service for kids at church then Sunday morning we'll have a big breakfast at home but I am not making Christmas dinner. We've already decided to go to lunch out at a Jewish deli we like, which of course it open and has really good food.

__________________
Noël


Worry doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrows, it empties today of its strengths.

We're going to my niece's house for Christmas. It will be her first time hosting any family holiday. She lives about a 50 minute drive from where I live so will have to drink the unspiked eggnog.

Noel - you might want to check to see if they'll be open Christmas. The first day of Hannukkah happens to fall on Christmas day.

__________________

]

got everyone coming here. Going to have the main dinner xmas eve.
that leaves Sunday for gifts, relaxing, leftovers and finger food.

I like this idea. I'm not killing myself the holiday morning getting food ready for the early dinner. I don't remember who decided the main meal was at noon, but I just realized - it certainly wasn't the person who has to do all the work while everyone else sleeps in or watches television.
Its been creeping earlier and earlier - gonna put a stop to that I think.

__________________
Mary Kay
2009 WW - 228 / 204

I want a Christmas Onederland!!

I reckon MaryKay has a really GREAT idea there! This is my last year of being the person who 'does' Christmas! There are many things I enjoy about the festive season - as I'm not a follower of the Christ its not really a religious event for me. However, I enjoy the 'hail fellow well met' ambience PROVIDED I'm somewhere where its a good quality one. I'm fed up with the 'yuk' factor of Christmas (and I can just imagine those of you who are Christians are as well!) This year is going to be quiet here - not really hilarious stuff in the last stages of dissolution of marriage. However, all will be civilised at least - and as none of us use alcohol - I can't see the emotions getting out of hand! (Not that I am suggesting everyone who has a drink does that - but I'm quite highly strung enough without adding THAT risk factor to my equation!) New Years we always spend running around on the beach at midnight with sparklers - and I do enjoy that. So - it will just be DH, DS and myself - as usual. Next year I have BIG plans AND I'm booking the best restaurant in the city for dinner!!!! AND I'm going to hear the Chamber singers in the big cathedral! In the meantime - I'll make do with the noise of the tropical parrots and birds! Happy Christmas America!

__________________
The fox is wild!



5'3" Maintaining 121-125
Original weight 198 +

Christmas day my ds and his wife and my 3 grandkids and my dd will be at our house. I'll make the traditional turkey dinner. After they all demolish my house (really), they will go home and dh and I will be able to relax. Boxing Day we will go to my in-laws house for another turkey dinner. We'll spend the night there cause it's an hours drive and we always have a couple of drinks. The best part about all of this is 4 days off work!

__________________
Donna
238.5/173.4/150
I will see my goal weight again

I'll do a seven fish dinner for a small gathering on Christmas Eve, which is my cultural tradition. Then Christmas day, I intend to stay in my PJ's most of the day, watch football - and A Christmas Story at least once, read my latest Dean Koontz book and nosh on leftover shrimp. At sunset, I'll go help my friend (who's not feeling very well at this time) light the first candle on the Menorah.

My one son is in retail and lives far off, so we won't have our "family Christmas" gathering until after the January inventory - as weather permits. LOL! But this year I have a fake tree, so it stays up until whenever that happens ... with no watering or pine needles to deal with!

As a family of agnostics, Christmas is more of a secular/cultural celebration here - We follow many of my ethnic traditions while celebrating the solstice and the coming of the light. The days are getting longer from here on in. A good, primal, reason to be of good cheer.

__________________

Maggie, please tell us more about the 7 fishes traditionall dinner? That sounds great!

We're doing two at least, if you count shrimp and crabs as fish!

Char

__________________
Veni, vidi, velcro. I came, I saw, I stuck around.

Save the Earth - it's the only planet with CHOCOLATE!

Of course shrimp and crab "count" as fish! LOL!

This year's plan is as follows:

Cold shrimp & oysters, w/ lemon &/or cocktail sauce.

Calamari salad (Squid, lightly sauteed w/red peppers, black olives, etc. then chilled & served w/ vinegar & olive oil & herbs)

Crostacei - Mussels w/ spicey tomato/wine sauce OR a Clam chowder (I guess sort of a Manhattan version - it's got tomato in it and no cream) whichever of these "smell" best when I'm at the fish place.

Baccala - Cod, breaded & fried and covered with a sweet & sour "sauce" of onion, vinegar & splenda.

Fried crab cakes - a bit more Maryland than Sicilian variation: LC crumbs, mayo, old bay seasoning, etc. LOL!

Salmon - Sort of blackened (various spices) served w/ lemon wedges.

Then there will also be salads, olives, cheeses, fennel, and caponatina (eggplant appetizer) around.

That's the plan at this point.

__________________

OMG...that all sounds fantastic, Maggie!!

For us, it's Christmas Eve at my mother's house with meat and cheese platters, cold shrimp, and lots of high carb side dishes...I am responsible for the cheesy potatoes this year! We open gifts and enjoy the raucous antics of my crazy brothers and 14 grandkids! Will probably try to get to midnight Mass.

Christmas morning is for my own family...sitting around in our jammies and opening gifts. DH and I put together a nice luncheon of ham and warm side dishes, and we use the fancy Christmas Lenox tableware!! The rest of the day, everyone spends playing with their new 'tech' toys while I snooze on the couch and watch It's a Wonderful Life. So, not too exciting...but very peaceful.

Late Christmas Eve (10pm or so), my DH will leave us to go and get his sons... they will get back sometime around midnight. We will spend the next 4-5 hours trying to convince the teenagers to go to bed so that the 4 year-old will go to bed so that Santa can "come". I will be up all night, trying to get all the Santa stuff set up I will be cranky on Christmas morning as no one else will get up until noon or so. I will go outside so that I don't throw a fit in the house, my step-sons will choose that moment to wake up my son, and I will get to miss him seeing what Santa brought him AGAIN (though they are being threatened with instant death if they do this to me again this year). The kids will open their presents, Austin will be bouncing off the ceiling, the teenagers will want to take their loot and go home, but DH will insist that they stay for Christmas dinner (at 1pm), as soon as they are done eating, he will take them home, and then he will come home and I will get to go take a nap. I'm really looking forward to it

I know this sounds cynical... but I've discovered that this ain't no Little House on the Prairie family (or even the Addams Family), and if I go in expecting it to be yucky that sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised.

__________________
Katie
275/238/150
Restarted 01/08/2007
37 pounds lost!
http://justanotherfatgirl.blogspot.com