Catching Up...Christmas

Between Christmas, New Year, and Ben taking vacation, I got a bit behind on my updates, so it's time to play catch up!  First, I hope that everyone back home had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  I know the weather there was rough over Christmas, but thankfully, everyone I know made it through safely.

Christmas here was lovely.  The weather was rather warm, and it was the first time since my arrival that I had found myself wishing for air conditioning (I have wished for the AC a total of 2, maybe 3 times).  Generally, the temperature is cooler and lacks the Alabama humidity.  There's usually a breeze here, and the houses have tons of windows to let the air circulate.  As long as the temp stays like it is, I think I'll fare well...we'll see how it goes as summer progresses.

We went to Ben's mom's on Christmas Day.  Being that it is summer here, the food was lighter than it is back in Bama.  We did have ham, but we had salads and stuff for sides.  That's right...no dressing, no dumplings, no homemade mac n' cheese.  I'm not complaining because everything was yummy!  Desserts were different too.  We had lemon cheesecake and a ginger kiss log.  Ginger kisses are cakey cookies with cream sandwiched between them...think smaller, but thicker Little Debbie's Oatmeal Cream Pies with ginger cookies instead of the oatmeal cookies.  They're pretty tasty on their own, but they were soaked in some kind of juice and covered in fresh cream!!!

Yeah, don't even get me started on the fresh cream here.  It's way better than the homemade whipped cream back there...some of you have heard me obsess over the cream after my visit last June...it was responsible for my weight gain, and I didn't even care! :D  Okay, as you can see, I get carried away at the mere mention of the stuff, and I need to get back on track..  Yes, the ginger kiss log was amazing, but the lemon cheesecake was DIVINE!!!  It had a custardy consistency, and OMG...I think I ate half of it...no joke.  Ben's mom sent most of it home with us, and I think he saw a few bites.  I didn't cut slices, I grabbed a fork and pulled it out of the fridge.  It was sooo good.  No, I didn't feel bad about how much of it I ate either.  I'm preggo...yeah, that's a good excuse!! :D

So, after over eating, opening pressies, and visiting, we made it back home to open presents.  No, we did not open them Christmas morning, nor did we open them Christmas Eve.  On Christmas Eve I was having blood work drawn, and then we were still out shopping for presents.  Procrastination is not a good thing when it comes to Christmas shopping....it won't happen next year!

That was my first Christmas in New Zealand...relaxed and laid back.  Did I miss everyone and the traditions back home?  You bet I did!!  I would be a liar if I tried to say I didn't.  I missed the spaghetti tradition at Paw-Paw's and Mrs. Lady's cakes, I missed elbowing my way around the counter at Granny's to fix my plate and I missed picking off the ham every time I walked by it.  I missed my Momma's dressing, grumbling about rather or not there were eggs in the dumplins, and the general chaos mixed with a bit of traditional family drama during the holidays.  On a bright note, I'm guaranteed to get eggs put in the dumplins every time we come there..win for me!!!  Take that my dear picky eater cousins!! :P

I did call up and talk to everyone at my Granny's on Christmas.  They played pass the phone, and then I got ignored, and I was finally hung up on because it was time to eat.  Yes, I felt totally missed...LOL!!  I also got to see pics...of the HAM!!  I'm still waiting on Cassidy to upload more.  Cassidy, I hope you see this, I'm calling you out!!

With that being said, I'm out for now.  I'll post more soon...there is still quite a bit to catch up on!  XoXo