Merry Christmas to all....

After a busy couple of weeks at work that included not only my two regular jobs but also a special make and take session with some aftercare friends AND beginning planning for the Lenten fish fry I am finally on my holiday break.
Of course that doesn't mean that I have slowed down at all. There were still gifts to bought, packages to be wrapped and all kinds of goodies to be baked. I am happy to say that the budget is healthy though. GF and I stayed within the budget we set ourselves and my half is easily paid back within the next two months. I have also trimmed some un-necessary fat from the budget by dropping the satellite radio, talking TW into lowering my internet bill and sticking with the utility measures we put in place. Two salaried paychecks have now given me a really good idea of how to manage payments. All these things help me sleep better at night. Adult son and I talked about our individual Amazon Prime memberships which are going up significantly in price next month. We've agreed to cancel his membership and go halves on mine. Adult son recently gifted himself with a 55 " flat screen smart TV that he'd been saving for all year long and which he has chosen to put into our living room. My Christmas gift from him was a new tv stand that was much needed. Our old one had been used at one time by one of the dogs as a chew toy and it was in sorry shape. The tv that was in the living room has gone into college age daughter's room replacing an old box style tv that will be stored in the attic 'just in case'. I have no desire for a tv in my bedroom, not to mention the cost an additional satellite box would be to my budget. I do have to say that the giant tv is a fun thing. And we can get all the free programs Prime gives us as part of our membership right on the tv without hooking up a gaming system. Very nice.
While enjoying some recorded Hallmark Christmas movies on Tuesday I spent a marathon day in the kitchen baking for the holiday. I pared my list down to the 'classics' and baked:
My Mom's birdnest cookies:

My GF's Mom's Italian Anise Cookies:

 

Christmas cutouts:

 

"snowballs" aka Mexican Wedding cakes:

And gingerbread men:

 

Christmas Eve we were off to GF's house where I baked my mom's Kolachky:

 

And her pizzelles:

 

As is our tradition some of the kids came over for Christmas Eve dinner after Mass and we had our usual meal of salad, pork tenderloin balsamico, white and wild rice, candied carrots, crescent rolls and ice cream for dessert.

Here is our holiday table complete with our traditional Christmas crackers:

 

Today we will be going to oldest son's home and joining our family with my DIL (and GF who is her uncle)'s family. We are bringing the roast 'beast', shown here ready for the oven:

 

a cherry pie:

 

green bean casserole:

 

and a cookie tray of all the goodies I baked: