Merry Christmas!!

Todd and I went to bed around 2am last night. We were waiting for Santa to come, of course! But, he didn't show up until after we went to bed. He's sneaky like that. We woke up around 6am because Todd had to go to work. We ended up having to wake Ava up. Poor girl, I'm sure it was torture for her. Her face when she walked down was priceless! The big bear was a hit! She was so excited to open gifts! We even had her open some of ours for us. She got a ton of loot! Yesterday at the Christmas Eve party she got a big pink pony from Santa and a baby doll with a stroller too. Today she got her Wonderpup from Santa. We got her the V-Motion game console and a couple of games, which she loves. She also got a TON of clothes and some shoes and slippers. And her grab bag Santa (Uncle Dave) got her 4 board games too.

Todd got his night vision goggles and a robot. I got him a sword rack for all of his swords. I also got him his Superman pajama pants and the WoW mouse, which wont be coming for quite a while. I got 3 one hour massages, my Garmin (yay!) a gift basket full of the Japanese Cherry Blossom stuff. I love that scent! For both of us, we got a Bissel featherweight vacuum, and his parents got us a $50 gift certificate to Lettuce Entertain You (a variety of wonderful restaurants) and another $100 towards going out and they said they would take Ava for us to have a night out.   

After we opened presents, Todd went to work and then promptly came back home. Apparently his partner called off and they didn't have anyone to work with Todd, so he just came home! Yay! So we just took it easy for the rest of the day. We played with our new toys and I made cookies (recipe after the pics) and went to Todd's mom's house for a delicious prime rib dinner. What a GREAT Christmas!!

Before the opening ceremony:

"Is that seriously a really big bear?! Did Santa really come?!"

"It's a BOX!!"

Yes, I did get them.

The one thing she asked Santa for, Lucky the Wonderpup

And yes, I got him a robot.

The big pink pony that Grandma, I mean, Santa got her! Meet Cotton Candy!

The biggest bear ever!!

There it is! The boy and his toys!

Dancin' to Christmas music!

And these were a big hit this year, Chocolate Covered Snow Peaks!

Chocolate Covered Snow Peaks

by Tyler Florence

** I got the recipe from The Food Network, but I dipped them in crushed mint candies right after the chocolate for a holiday twist on them.**

Ingredients

• 4 large egg whites at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites on low-medium speed with the whisk attachment until the whites become foamy. Add the cream of tartar and turn speed up to medium, beating until just fluffy. Add the sugar gradually, so it incorporates into the whites slowly without collapsing them. Once all the sugar has been added, add the vanilla and increase the speed to high, whisking until the meringue is firm and glossy, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Place meringue mixture into a piping bag with a medium-sized nozzle attached. Pipe 24 bite-sized "kiss"-shaped meringues onto the trays and place in the oven. Bake for 1 hour undisturbed then turn off heat and leave in the oven overnight to really dry out.

Melt chocolate over a double-boiler or in the microwave on medium power for 30 seconds. Holding each meringue by the peak dip the bases in chocolate so the bottom half of the meringue is coated. Let any excess chocolate drop off before placing on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Allow to set at room temperature - do not put in the fridge. Once set, store in an airtight container.