Christmas Cranberry Compote

Its probably normal for people to try and relate their lives to movies or books. Its not always possible to relate to the movies you consider your favorites (its pretty doubtful that Eric will learn the Force) but sometimes it feels like your living out a movie. This week, we've been living out Marley & Me. For anyone who hasn't seen it, the movie is all about a family with a crazy but loveable dog. Its very easy to laugh at for the most part especially if you've ever had a large dog with lots of energy. Why do we feel like we're living in this movie? Here are the most common phrases used this year:

• Don't chase the cat.
• Don't chase the other cat.
• Off, off, OFF!
• Whats for dinner?
• OUTSIDE!
• OFF THE BED!
• YOU CHEWED A HOLE IN THE BED!?! OUTSIDE!

Yeah, its been an adventurous year so far, all 7 days of it. It's also been really hard to get anything done. Between taking holiday decorations down and getting the house put back together (we're still finding pine needles from last year) theres a lot to do so we hunkered down this week and procrastinated most of it. Eric's favorite chair is still covered in ornaments that haven't been put away and the house still smells like pine needles. The only major progress we've made is taking down the outside lights and taking the tree outside. Its also a good time to talk about one of the Christmas Eve traditions we've shattered this year and why were so glad we did. We usually serve jellied cranberry, you know that purple glob that comes out shaped exactly like the can and jiggles? Most entertaining side ever. This year we went with a cranberry compote Charisse found over at finecooking.com. This was by far the best use of cranberries since they were first juiced and mixed with vodka. With the sliced scallions they looked as festive as they taste.

Christmas Eve Spectacular (and day after Christmas pancakes from a box)

WHEW. With that, the Christmas season has come to a close. New Years is right around the corner and everyone has joined a new gym and we're almost done cleaning up after Christmas Eve Dinner. Almost. Leftovers? Still in the fridge. Christmas cookies? Still on a 3-a-day diet. Might have to up it to 4. All in all the Holiday was a good time for just about everyone. We've picked up the tradition of  hosted a big dinner on Christmas Eve for both of our families and some close friends every year. Last year we tackled a beef wellington dish and had four other courses. This year we toned it down just a little, preparing a rack of pork with sides and French onion soup. The meal definitely created a sense of fullness which really set the trend for the rest of the next two days. After dinner we sat around the fire and exchanged gifts and had a white elephant gift exchange. If you've never done one its a good time to see Murphy's law in action and may be the only time you can see a staunch Republican get a commemorative Obama plate or Charisse let Eric have a garden gnome. One of Eric's family traditions growing up is reading a Christmas story on Christmas Eve, so Eric read "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus"  to everyone as the party wound down. For those who made it we took a walk around the neighborhood around midnight looking at all the lights and talking about what tomorrow would bring. Christmas started for us around 6 AM with trips back and forth between both of our parents houses. When we got home, it was straight to bed with a thankful heart, full stomachs and the feeling that when we woke up, the house would be a disaster. The next morning, we discovered that it was worse than we thought. Paper, boxes and ribbons everywhere and stacks of dishes to do so we did the only sensible thing: made pancakes from a mix with Eric's new Pancake molds, which turned out to be the perfect after Christmas breakfast. We hope you all had  a wonderful holiday (whichever one you might celebrate) and all have wonderful and safe New Years Eve! We'll see you next year!

Christmas Candy Truffles

CHRISTMAS CANDY! In case you haven't noticed, we're basically little kids who have jobs. We get excited about things like Disneyland, Birthday Parties and playing video games. So maybe its mostly Eric that gets excited about video games, but lets not split hairs here because the biggest thing that we get really kid like excited about is Christmas, which in our house starts exactly the moment Santa comes down the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It would actually start a lot earlier except Eric puts his big grinchy foot down and strictly prohibits Christmas movies and Christmas Carols from New Years to Thanksgiving which makes Charisse all the more eager to sneak them in when he's not around. Its pretty funny to see how mad Eric can get when he hops in Charisse's car and discovers jingle bells in the CD player. But once that magical season starts we're up in the mountains chopping down a tree and covering the house in lights and tinsel. It is a time for Jen and Charisse to get together and bake and their husbands to go off and do manly things (play video games). This first round of baking lasted 10 1/2 hours and resulted 9 different types of Christmas Candy. Today we're showcasing some of the truffles. There are Chocolate truffles and white chocolate ones. Truffles with peppermint and toffee too! Since these are basically all the same truffle, it makes sense to do them together!