Christmas, Carmel, and Pecans

Christmas has come and gone and it was a good one. Dear Husband and VactionGirl left the homestead at 5:45 a.m. to head south to North Carolina for the week. It's usually an 8-9 hour trip but we pulled in at 1:00 p.m. - it's amazing what having no traffic (and no police around) can do for one's travel. Once out of Ohio, I was able to keep it around 80 mph except for the mountains and even that was still 65-70 mph. As we neared the treaturous turns on I40 that I have come to hate so very much over the years, I turned to Dear Husband and said "I have a problem." He immediately perked up and was very concerned - "what's wrong", he asked. I laughed and said "I don't know how to drive in these mountains in the daylight." Whenever I drive, we always hit the mountains at night - I have never driven them in the daylight. What a nice surprise. They're not so scary after all. I may have to rethink my stance and not hate them so much.

Christmas was good. Everyone got everything they wanted - plus more. I think everyone was quite happy. Here's a few pictures of the gift opening in N.C......

I made a pie! Nowanyone who knows me knows that I don't make pies. I make cookies, I make cakes, I make breakfast, I make dinner. I make lots of things, but pie is not one of those things. However, The Pioneer Woman (at thepioneerwoman.com) had the recipe for a pie that looked too good to pass up. So I tried it. As you can see from the picture, it turned out really good. Really good until we cut it. Then it decided to have to be scooped out with a spoon - guess I had a little too much carmel on the top. But even with having to scoop it out - it was still SOOO very good. Try it - you'll love it.

Tonight we're heading to a little german restaurant - I've been checking out the menu and can't decide what to pick. I know I want spatzle but there are a few really good choices. I'll let you know later.

Until then....