December 24th

Christmas Eve, the night all young ones have a difficult time falling asleep.  A night I can remember as a young boy laying there concerned Santa would not come until I fell asleep, the weight of my family having a happy Christmas heavy on my shoulders.
  It was a cool day here in the valley with an overcast sky that rained periodically as the temperature gradually fell.  The large weather system coming through Arizona bringing snow to areas above the 3,500 foot level and rain to the rest of us.  The last I saw they had almost a foot up in the Flagstaff area and a bit less along the mountains.
  Marg & I were off to the rec hall early, 9AM I believe.  We had some prep work to be done getting the five turkey's prepared for a day in the ovens here in preparation for the Christmas dinner.  They do things very similar to the way Marg cooks them, but with a few differences based on whomever is directing the cooking.  The differences from what we do at home: the birds are rubbed with oil and then placed in a roasting bag.  The giblets are boiled and then destined to be included in the dressing. There was lots of help, so it didn't take too long.
  Then we came back to our place to make a phone call to mom in Edmonton.  My brother and sister and much of their families were all going to Miller's Crossing, so we wanted to take advantage of their being there and speak with mother.  After that it was down to the hall where the turkeys were out of the oven and cooled down.  With the number of people helping we had them carved pretty quickly.  For the last couple of years, they seem to like the breasts taken out and carved in the Martha Stewart way rather than cut off of the carcass slice by slice.  There are a couple of other guys who do this, so Warren and I handled that while the rest did the dark meat.
 After it was back home to ready for our company tonight.  Marg had invited 5 people over for an evening of salads, finger foods and a beef dip followed by baking treats.  The 3 ladies are some of Marg's buddies down here, so are important to her.  It seems that appetizers on Christmas eve are almost traditional with our family when we are home, so she asked these people if they wanted to share this with us.  The ladies brought a few things and we had a few drinks making for a nice evening.  I had gone out and got a bottle of rum today and as it turns out that was a good decision as it seemed to be very popular either with coke or eggnog.  A very nice evening and we are almost falling asleep in our chairs, so time to turn in. 
  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!