THE BLAKE FAMILY CHRISTMAS

Move over Griswold's the Blake's are getting ready for Christmas. 

I have been preparing my mind and body for month's for the celebration that is Christmas in our house.  You have the biggest kid (my husband) who loves to have every inch decorated in preparation for the big day.  We begin by downloading the many boxes, and when I say many, I mean back up the moving van because there are literally 50-100 boxes to open, unwrap, repair, hang, string or set somewhere.  The collections begin with the nutcrackers.  Not just any nutcrackers, the German Steinbock nutcrackers for which we are the proud owners of 50+.  They line the television console, the kitchen garden window, and tables around the living room.  Next is the fairy collection.  This is a new collection but has grown exponetially since last year.  It has it's own dresser and window shutters for display.  The Leo Smith collection are carved Santas and other characters that have been collected throughout the years.  We have Santa's of all kinds, (two favorites "the gambler Santa holding four aces and the wine Santa holding what else...).  There are bear, snowman, and a Dept. 56 monk collection.  A new addition last year is a handmade sculpted Santa, reindeer, sleigh and elves from an artist in Seattle, very beautiful and one-of-a-kind.  There are three nativites for which my mother steals baby Jesus out of the mangers and hides him until Christmas Eve because "he's not born yet".   Our son's rocking horse from childhood has been converted to be a large Christmas accessory and his wooden train set has been repainted and decorated for the holidays.  There are a pair of antique wooden ski's that grace the family room wall.  The bathrooms, kitchen, hallways, and bedrooms all have decorations too.  The Christmas tree is nine feet tall and is chocked full of ornaments that have been collected for 33 years.   Time to unload, decorate and put empty boxes back on shelves - 2 people @20 hours - satisfaction and Christmas spirit - PRICELESS.

The pinnacle of our Christmas "stuff" are the gnomes.  They are four feet tall, soft stuffed and lifelike.  Over the years we have used them in many creative ways in fact, when our daughter was coming in too late during her teen years we set them up in the doorway so when she tried to sneak in she was greeted with a large pointy headed creature with a stick in his hand.  Remembering her shreak has been good for laughs for the last 15 years.  My mother will tell you she was ordered up at the crack of dawn on a black Friday so many years ago to stand in line so we could buy Mr. & Mrs. Gnome.  They were well worth it and I have never seen anything like them again.

Outside the house there are lights, not overdone, just right, but... we have a six foot tall toy drum soldier that is lit up with colored lights.  He is the crown jewel of the yard.  Our patio has a lighted palm tree, wreath, and grape lights hung on an arbor.

Now that the decorations are in place the table service (holiday tartan plaid) comes out to grace the dining room table.  Matching glasses, tablecloths, serviceware, etc.

Christmas Eve is traditionally our open presents to one another and Christmas day are presents from Santa.  On Christmas Eve we have the traditional Italian fare with many dishes made from some form of fish.  Grandma make shrimp scampi, stuffed muscles and antipasta.  I make linguine with clam sauce and our son and daughter-in-law make several gourmet delights.  The wine and champagne has been flowing throughout the day complements of our head sommelier - my husband.

We usually have anywhere from 7- 10 people for dinner.  After dinner is clean-up and once that is done the presents get passed out.  When our son was little he literally couldn't eat his dinner and only on this night did he willingly participate in kitchen cleanup.  Anything to get to the presents faster. 

All kinds of cookies, Chex Mix (made by grandma, anticipated by her grandson), bread pudding and other treats are made ahead of time.

We usually exchange treats or homemade goods with several of the neighbors.  This tradition started many years ago when we bought our home in 1985 in our brand new neighborhood and we all moved in at the same time.  The cool part about this is we still have many of our same original neighbors.  We left for 12 years when the Navy moved us but came home to roost in our home and neighborhood that means so much to us.

Christmas Day is lowkey and "the kids" still wake up to see what Santa has left in the stockings.  All of us have stockings and little extra treasures are stuffed into each.  We have a breakfast casserole and pizza fritta in the morning.  There will be cider from Julian and coffees spiked with holiday flavors.  We have a Christmas meal with whatever the chefs feel like preparing, this year will be a Harrington's ham and other yummy stuff.  Most of all we eat, drink and play fun games throughout the day and evening.  We play bingo and Pablo (fun card game) and there is a bag with prizes for the winners of the games. 

Most years we can spill out to the patio to enjoy the warm sun and relax.  Thank you San Diego. 

Family and Fun - everything Christmas is supposed to be. 

BLAKE FAMILY CHRISTMAS

BEE MERRY