christmas eve, morning and the days leading to 2009

hey everyone!! did you have a great Christmas?? i sure did! yayyy.

decided to celebrate bisperas at my sister's house. the morning of was pretty hectic. started the day at about 8 am, baking seven layer cookies. i don't know why it's called that 'cause looking at the recipe it calls for a layer of (1) graham cracker crumbs, (2) a can of condensed milk, (3) semi-sweet chocolate chips, (4) butterscotch chips, (5) shredded coconut, and (6) chopped pecans. the only other ingredient is a stick of melted butter mixed with the graham crumbs. butter, a layer? in any case, these cookies came out yummerrss!!!! it was chewy gooey LETHAL goodness. i also made brazo de mercedes and as our mother said the first time i made it, it was outstanding! :D

the spread consisted of mainly filipino dishes. the whole fam requested pork sinigang, pancit, lumpia, ham and pork bbq. i also made pork belly adobo (liempo) and menudo. the hubby made potato salad and potato latkes (it's a jewish thing). apart from the salad, brazo, cookies and latkes, i made everything at my sister's house. lemme tell ya, i am not doing that again anytime soon. it was super fun but boy, was it chaotic! **photos below. adobong liempo wasn't pictured, nor the brazo.**

a few of my sister's work friends had dinner with us and it made for a really enjoyable night. after a few hours of merry-eating (i know, that's not a word but it should be! lol), we watched tv waiting for the clock to hit midnight. as soon as the clock hit 11:59, gift wrap got ripped and bows got saved. got really nice stuff. more importantly though, we are just thankful for having family close and everyone in good health. :) we drove home around 1 am and opened more gifts from the in-laws. after all was said and done, we got into bed at 4. poopee!

we slept in christmas morning. sorta. we got up around 9am. cleaned up a bit and did a load of laundry. ate some leftovers. around 2pm, we headed out to the hub's brother's house for dinner with his fam. ate some more. opened more presents. around 7, headed out to the movies with sis and mom. we saw the curious case of benjamin button. it was a delightful movie. quite enjoyable, apart from the fact that is was three hours long. got home a little past 11.

my work week was shorter this week and will be this week as well. will only be working fri and sat. have yet to make concrete plans to spend new year's eve and day. any suggestions ya'll? doing downtown disney and watching the fireworks sounds good but... i'd like to try something else.

i am looking forward to the new year. the notion of starting anew and celebrating it has always been something that motivated me to reflect, learn from mistakes, be thankful and move on. so to all you, i wish you a blessed 2009! i hope all your hopes and dreams come to fruition.

eat, drink and be merry!!!!!