Christmas Eve afternoon.

I need a break from that kitchen. Seems like we've been in there since eight this morning, and it's nearly three o'clock now. My husband made the mashed potatoes for tomorrow... they are in a shallow baking pan and will re-heat in the oven tomorrow afternoon. Same with the oyster dressing. He was going to make his "usual" Christmas stuffing with Greek gyro meat, but since we're having meat as a main course, we all asked him to do the oyster dressing.

L is bringing a cooked pork loin roast. She was going to prepare it at her house and bring it here for me to roast, but I asked her to cook it in her oven-- I'm not great at roasts, and I don't want to over-cook a holiday dinner. She's also bringing the spinach souffle that she made for us on Thanksgiving.

I've just finished making crawfish bisque, and I've simmered it till it's nearly done. It will finish simmering and thickening when I re-heat it tomorrow. The kitchen now smells of pumpkin pie (just out of the oven) and baked sweet potatoes with pineapple chunks. Tomorrow is going to be easy-- turn on both ovens, and let everything cook together without all the last-minute preparation. (A long-ago trick learned in my Aunt Dolly's kitchen.) All I have to do in the morning is put the ingredients into the bread machine so we'll have fresh hot bread with the soup, and I will also cut up some cheese into small cubes and stick them on the cute little gold mice from my Aunt Dolly's stash of kitchen treasures---- small golden metal mice (vintage, made by Napier) with long thin tails sticking up into the air... you use the tails as skewers for grapes and cheese and they look darling on the table.

For dessert tomorrow, we'll have my husband's Plum Pudding which he steamed last week, and I know we always say this, but this year's Plum Pudding is the best ever. We'll also have pumpkin pie, plus I'm going to coat red-rimmed sherbet cups with honey and flaked coconut and serve ice cream in those. A pretty, festive way to serve ice cream and everyone always loves the coconut-coated cups on the table whether or not they are filled with ice cream.

Very warm today...... and a little bit of rain. The cats have been sleeping the day away, and I'm so glad that the weather is warm for them to be on the screen-porch. I've got the dining room table all set and ready for tomorrow's dinner, and I've got the smaller table in the living room set up for the two of us for tonight's lobster dinner. Way ahead of my own schedule, which is just how I like it.

C and her dad stopped by this afternoon to give me a container of their home-made split pea soup, which I had for lunch. Delicious...... I told them all about Lou and his coffee shop up in NY, and how Thursdays was always split-pea-soup day there. C and her dad came through the back door and into the kitchen, and C made it a point not to look too closely into the dining room. She wants to be surprised tomorrow when they get here for dinner. That's one of her favorite parts of holidays here-- to walk around our dining room table and look at all the place cards and surprises that I've made for us all.

Jingle bells....... it's Christmas Eve. Have a merry one!