Christmas Eve

I've been in the kitchen and dining room for most of the day..... which isn't unusual for the day before a holiday.

The dining room table looks as if it should be in a magazine ad....... the center of the table has silver glitter-branches running down the center of it. Those branches also have silver glittered-berries on the branches... so pretty, from the Nutcracker Market that we had gone to last month.

I took the glass bird ornaments off of the Christmas tree.... eight of them, the kind with the little clips at their feet... and I clipped the birds to the silver branches. (Then I had to take some ornaments from the back of the tree and fill in the spots on the front of the tree where the birds were.) Around the branches and the birds, I used tea-light candles in short glass votives, making sure that when the candles are lighted, the silver branches and the feather-tails on the birds won't get into the flame. (Let's not put that thought out into the universe, as my dear friend Frankie would say.)

The Santa placecards look great.... small porcelain Santa buttons hot-glued onto each placecard. And then I have a blown-glass Santa ornament hanging from everyone's water glass...... the Santa faces on both the placecard and the ornament are very similar so they look perfect together.

The salmon/crabcakes are all done and in the fridge..... just have to bake them tomorrow... each cake is in the shape of a Christmas tree, thanks to the large tree cookie cutter (from Williams-Sonoma). And I did use the little green peas... I pushed them into the tree-shapes, so they look decorated. Just a few here and there, so they wouldn't look silly. I will keep everyone out of the kitchen while I'm fixing the plates, so no one will see the presentation till the plates go into the dining room. After we all sit down, the only ones in the kitchen are me and young C anyway.... I fix the plates and she brings them into the dining room.

Everything that I can possibly do today has been done........ I'll be busy tomorrow, doing last-minute things that just can't be done today. Like cooking the mussels in the pesto sauce. Come to think of it, I should take the big pan out of the cabinet and leave it on the stove, so I don't forget to cook them up. I have a list on the kitchen counter.... what to serve first, second, third.... I don't want to forget anything, which is easy to do when there's so much to be done and you're trying to keep things organized in the kitchen and enjoy your own dinner party.

Time for me to get dressed for Christmas Eve...... my husband and I will have a nice dinner tonight and open our gifts..... no time for that tomorrow morning because I'll be back in the kitchen again. Jingle bells indeed........