Christmas 2008

We had a great Christmas this year and, as always, Santa was very generous to our family.


The kids in their new pajamas

On Christmas Eve Santa always brings the kids some new jammies. Just sometime during the festivities of the evening the doorbell will ring, we will run to answer it and there sitting on our porch will be a beautifully decorated box filled with new pajamas for our children. This is a fun tradition that we have done for many years. It is definitely getting harder as the kids get older. We had to have some help this year. A few years ago the box had been sitting on the porch for awhile before one of us could get away and ring the bell. When the kids brought in the box and took out their new pajamas Alyssa made the comment (I think she was 6 or 7 years old at the time) that she knew for sure that these came from Santa because they were "freezing, cold, like the North Pole".

Another Christmas Eve tradition that we love is to make homemade doughnuts as a family. Every year we would try new doughnut recipes until we found the one we love the best. We ate them so fast, and I was in doughnut heaven so I didn't get any pictures.

INGREDIENTS:
2 (.25 ounce) envelopes active
dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105 to
115 degrees)
1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup shortening 5 cups all-purpose flour
1 quart vegetable oil for frying

1/3 cup butter
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 tablespoons hot water or as
needed

DIRECTIONS:
1. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, and let stand for 5 minutes, or until foamy.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the yeast mixture, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, and 2 cups of the flour. Mix for a few minutes at low speed, or stirring with a wooden spoon. Beat in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a greased bowl, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise until double. Dough is ready if you touch it, and the indention remains.
3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and gently roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter. Let doughnuts sit out to rise again until double. Cover loosely with a cloth.
4. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in hot water one tablespoon at a time until the icing is somewhat thin, but not watery. Set aside.
5. Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large heavy skillet to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Slide doughnuts into the hot oil using a wide spatula. Turn doughnuts over as they rise to the surface. Fry doughnuts on each side until golden brown. Remove from hot oil, to drain on a wire rack. Dip doughnuts into the glaze while still hot, and set onto wire racks to drain off excess. Keep a cookie sheet or tray under racks for easier clean up.




Then after all the excitment, we read from the bible about Jesus's birth. We then talk about the many wonderful, miraculous gifts that the Savior has given to us and how grateful we are to Him and for Him and how much we love Him. Each of us then takes a moment to think of what gift we could give the Savior during the next year. We then write it down on a piece of paper and roll it up like a scroll and tie it closed with curly ribbon. Then we each place our papers somewhere in our Christmas tree. Each year as we take the decorations down and put away our tree, I keep those special pieces of paper, unopened of course, in a special box with our Christmas ornaments.




This is a picture of our family room after the damage and after some clean-up.