Christmas 'n Stuff

It has come and gone for another year, Christmas that is. Always so much build up to it and now as an adult it's just not that exciting. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy it, but Christmas is for kids. It's fun to watch the little ones get so excited about opening presents and playing with each toy like it's the greatest one of all. It was a good Christmas. We decided a couple of months ago that it wouldn't be too bad to host my family this year. It just happened to be everyone's year to be home, so we had 16 adults and 4 children (under the age of 5) in our house. I think my biggest concern leading up to that day was cooking the turkey. I wanted to make sure it went into the oven early enough that it would be done on time, but not so early that it would be cooked way too soon and be dry. We cooked a 19.5lb turkey (stuffed) and it was done in 4 1/2 hours. Take note! I know every oven is different and I think different turkeys cook differently depending on water content and whatnot. From what I had read 4 1/2 to 3/4 would be enough for a 20lb stuffed turkey. But a lot of people I talked to kept saying 20 minutes per pound. Which worked out to more like 7 hours. Finally I figured I would put it in by 11am and hope that it would be done by 4:30pm, and it was done when we checked it at 3:30pm. We put it back in on low heat and surprisingly it didn't even dry out too much. Everyone seemed to like my stuffing too :) After a good visit and a quick cleanup we were off to Swift Current the next morning. We had a nice visit there and were filled with lots of tasty foods. I think my favorite gift that I received for Christmas was a new wallet. I first saw this brand of wallets when we were on holidays in Calgary in the summer. I hummed and hawed over them and decided I didn't need it. Then when we went to Dutch Growers I saw them there but again decided I didn't need it, though I really liked them. Then somehow my mother-in-law managed to find one in Swift Current and got it for me. I think it's very cute and it is big enough to fit all my cards and stuff in it, but it's slimmer and actually fits in my purse better than my old one. I got other things, but I think that was the neatest gift for me. :) If you would like to see some pictures from our Christmas, Jay has posted some on his blog.