THE 11TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

To celebrate the 11th day of Christmas we hung the Stocking ornament. The Stocking represents Compassionate Service. It is shaped like the letter J to symbolize Jesus Christ, who walked thousands of miles in the service of His fellow men. Christian legend is also told of St. Nicholas, who celebrated the Savior's birth each year by filling stockings with food, clothes and gifts to give to those in need and lift the spirits of down-hearted.

I was able to celebrate Christmas Eve with my family this year. Diane came to spend the evening with us and my brothers and dad came to eat dinner with us. I made a honey-ham with a dijon-balsamic/brown sugar glaze, we had scalloped potatoes, mashed sweet-potato crisp, green bean almondine with garlic and lemon, and tart broccoli salad. For dessert I made (completely from scratch....no pudding here) banana and coconut cream pies. They were delicious, my favorite was the coconut..

After dinner, we each opened our gifts to each other. The boys each received a HUGE Christmas tree lollipop from Uncle Mike (started the sugar high early this year), and he gave Jason and I a large box of diapers in preparation for our new arrival in a few months. Matthew and Shranda gave the family new hot chocolate mugs with different flavored hot cocoa packets. Dad was very generous this year and gave us quite a nest egg deposit....very thankful for that, too kind! Before bedtime we settled down on the couch as a family and read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.