Celebrating the Season

Well, these past few days have been a whirl wind of the 3 F's: Family, Friends, & Food! All of which means new memories to cherish for years to come.

The weather outside was frightful, so my in-laws couldn't make the trek up for Christmas Day, but never fear! Friends are near!

Christmas Eve was spent with close friends who were our old neighbors from Malta. But lets face it they're family now! Bruni's sisters and brother were there with incredible Puerto Rican food, holiday cheer, and welcomed us with open arms! After indulging in the feast, a few card games and lots of chatter among us, we headed back home.

With a fresh dusting of snow on the ground, we woke up to squealing kids running up and down the stairs the next morning, CHRISTmas morning! Sleepily we opened gifts and somehow managed to eat breakfast.

Our neighbors Mike & Pam and their daughter and grandson came over for CHRISTmas dinner, which is really a late lunch. Again, neighbors that are more family than friends! It was such a blessing to have them! The laughter that filled my home, the smell of CHRISTmas dinner, and the tree that glowed were great memories that I will cherish as my First CHRISTmas in our new home.

Later that evening, Javier & Bruni and their family joined us for a new tradition. Homemade Pizza CHRISTmas night! I found the easiest pizza dough recipe and turned out 8 pizzas in about an hour and a half! Incredible and YUMMY! We have a mini arcade in our basement and played air hockey, foosball, and skee-basket ball for hours! Was such a great time! I'm already ready for next year! Well, maybe not yet! :)

A few days later we drove to Alton to my little sisters for the Wells Family CHRISTmas. What a blessing to have nearly all my family in my sister new home for CHRISTmas. Another great feast, laughter, and memories were made! My favorite part of the Wells CHRISTmas this year was the White Elephant gift exchange. It includes EVERYone, even my Dad. What ever did happen to the Bronzed Spartan with the 6 pack abs??? After an exciting day we traveled to my in-laws for one last CHRISTmas celebration.

Michael's Dad greeted us at the door with the excitement of a child. He nearly couldn't wait to open gifts and Travis wasn't even in the house yet! We tore open presents and snacked on cookies and finally after a very long day of fun with family we tucked ourselves into bed for a long winters nap.

Michael and I also spent a day at my Dad's house painting and priming. I hate to say it but I don't think my Dad will get into his newly remodeled home before his birthday in February. So much to do, with little help. It's not all fun living 5+ hours away.

Well, that's my CHRISTmas in a nutshell. I hope you were blessed with the same 3 F's as I was!
I pray you have a blessed New Year full of the 3 F's!
Christie

Christie's Cheesecakes

Gourmet Sweet Varieties

The Classic
This is your classic, rich cheesecake with a gram cracker crust.
8" $20
Topped with fresh fruit or fruit glaze
$25

White Chocolate Raspberry Swirl
Fresh raspberries and fine white chocolate swirled into yummy goodness on a chocolate crust
8" $25

Chocolate Decadence
Fine dark or milk chocolate on a chocolate crust
8" $23

Kona Mocha
CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE.
Can make with standard Colombian coffee
Hawaii's finest Kona Coffee and premium dark chocolate garnished with dark chocolate Kona beans. YUMMMM! What else can I say???
8" $30
Colombian 8" $25

Key Lime
Fresh Key Limes and gourmet whipped cream. Refreshing treat for the Winter!
8" $25

Pumpking No not a typo, Pumpking cause i cant seem to type "in" without adding the G!
Pumpking cheesecake layered on top of The Classic. Topped with fresh homemade REAL whip cream! (not fattening at all!)
8" $25

Candy Cane
Peppermint cheesecake topped with rich dark, milk, and white chocolates. A real holiday pleaser

Turtle
Chocolate, nuts, chocolate ganashe, carmel, more chocolate, rich, yummy, gooey, do I need to go on??
8" $30

Gourmet Savory Varieties

Maryland Crab
Not your typical cheesecake, but then again, none of them are! Fresh jumbo lump Maryland crab baked into a savory blend of gourmet spices and herbs. Served warm with bread.
5" $20

Buffalo Cheesecake
Christie's take on Hot Wings! All the goodness of Hot Wings baked into a savory cheesecake. It starts with grillled all white meat chicken spiced with a secret blackening seasoning. Then I slather on my buffalo sauce. The seasoned chicken is then folded into the cake along with garlic, onion, and other spices and herbs. After a nice bake in the oven, it is then topped with a blend of the seasoned chicken, blue cheese, buffalo sauce, and bacon. Cause everything is better with bacon!
5" $20

Gourmet Sets

The Tartlet
cant decide on what you want? The Tartlet is perfect! Bite size cheesecakes in any combination of 4 from the Gourmet Sweet Varieties.
40 Tartlets $25

Cupcakes
Choose one kind or up to 3 kinds of the Gourmet Sweet varieties.
24 cupcakes $25

WOW! I just added a photo! Yea me! This is Holly, my 4 legged daughter! She was my constant partner in crime when I decorated the house for Christmas in -2 temps!

Heeeellllllllllllooooooooooooo Out thereeeeeee!!!

Heellllooooooooooo Out thereeeeee!!!!!!!!!

Is there really anyone out there going to read this?? Am I sending out my thought to the space of the WWW to no one who is interested in what I have to say? Hope not, but maybe so!

My hope is to write funny Christie-isms on my life and my families life. We are like no other family one earth as we are NOT dysfunctional! And if you believe that, then youre not dysfunctional either!

One of my most well know Christie-ism is...I dont know. I dont know......I....dont know..... (with random head shaking in between.) Another is I can not spell. So maybe it could be a fun game where you try to figure out how many spelling errors there are. You can tell me, help me, yell at me, but it wont work. I will continue to misspell every word possible with out remorse. AND I'll still love you!

So I'm going to try to post some pictures and other stuff. Dont know how yet, but hopefully some of you out there will send me "self help" letters to get me started. I will appreciate it a whole lot!
Until I figure out how to do more stuff on this, I hope you have a great day!
Christie