Christmas Cinnamon Rolls

We just finished opening presents, but for me, I think this morning I enjoyed the cinnamon rolls I made even more than the gifting! I used a recipe from Bradley Ogden's Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, which required me to make the dough yesterday...but what is Christmas Eve for other than baking? I baked all day yesterday -- prepping the rolls, and making two types of cookies for sharing at the evening church service.

Of course, today we will be making a standing rib roast, roasted root vegetables, horseradish cream sauce, maybe Yorkshire puddings(?).  Should be a good day.  :)

Christmas tree

They say the holidays are especially hard for those who have lost someone recently.

I hate Xmas anyway, I'm a real Scrooge. So this year is sure to be interesting. Tonight we decorated the tree, though, and it was ...nice? The tree itself is our usual fake one, and the ornaments are the usual motley assembly. I believe Xmas is for kids, but I also do enjoy the festival aspects. I am a firm believer in trees being populated with ornaments that mean something, that remind us of something. Theme trees are downright weird in my opinion.

Our tree has always been kind of a joke, but I was never in competition with N. I stood in proper awe for her perfectly lit and decorated live tree every year, and she enjoyed the homeliness of ours.

Kiddo had so much fun putting the ornaments on and making up stories about them...he really considers them more as toys than ornaments. That's OK by me, it imparts even more meaning. As I told him tonight, this holiday is all about the kids.

I miss going over to admire the amazing tree. She had taken a class on tree decoration years ago, and she just loved transforming the house. Last year there were actually too many lights, though...you couldn't even see the ornaments. We had to admire the tree lit and unlit so we could actually appreciate the ornaments. Butterflies and bows...

I wonder where the Christmas ornaments went?