After a few days of rain, freezing rain, sleet and a little snow, we finally had nice weather yesterday.  The kids and I piled on warm clothing and spent the morning outside.  We shoveled, made roads with our footprints and ate icicles.  Sophie LOVED icicles and kept asking for more ("mo hacole").  Martin spent most of his time knocking down every icicle he could see, and everytime I turned around he was laying facedown on the ground licking snow or ice.  I let them both do it - the snow was fairly fresh and I didn't see any yellow areas.  Also, Marty wasn't with us to give us germ and grime warnings so we ate whatever snow and ice we wanted, just like I did when I was a kid.  And it tasted good - just like winter.

Throughout the afternoon our guests started to arrive - we were joined by Marty's mom, brother Jeff and his wife Rachael.  We played with the kids, ate loads of food, and took the kids to visit Santa.  Our visit to Santa was pretty successful.  No one actually talked to him (except me) but no one cried either (not even me, and at this time of year I can't even watch Oprah because I'm on the brink of emotional tears all day long).

Grandma Lou, Sophie, Martin & Santa

On the table for lunch: Meghan's Corn Chowder and deli sandwiches on potato rolls

On the table last night: Chicken Fricassee with Dumplings, Carrots Glazed with Mustard and Brown Sugar

On the table this morning: Chef Akasha's Crustless Corn Quiche

Rolling off the pin today: Aunt Louise's Sugar Cookies

On the appetizer tray for the next two days: Kathy's Chicken Curry Spread, Herb Dip with vegetables, fresh mozzerella wrapped in prosciutto, cashews.

*Note: In each recipe, I'm substituting non-dairy ingredients for anything dairy.  I'm not sure how they'll turn out, but hopefully they'll be tasty since I'm making boatloads of everything.

P.S.  Merry Christmas (finally).