Christmas and Fettuccine you could choke on...

I'm a terrible blogger, so this is a huge post.  If you make it to the bottom I'll be impressed.  

 The weather in Arizona really messes with my sense of seasons.  Everyone out here wears winter coats because its 45 degrees at night.  Sometimes, if we're lucky, it will get down into the 30s. The day's are still warm, warm enough for me to fold my laundry outside on my patio.  By no means am I complaining about living here or the weather, but I will say I miss snow and I really really miss seasons.  When its Christmas, I want to look out my window and see weather that in the past has traditionally told me its Christmas time.  

This was my first Christmas without my parents and I have to say I fared pretty well!  This was also our first Christmas with Ty's family, all of his family!  This was special and really really fun!  The cousins all got to be together and Mimi and Pa bought us all matching pajamas. Even Ty, John and Sean were rocking the flannel pants. 

 

My sis flew out on Christmas day, which made it special too!  

A few days later we all went out to celebrate John and Melissa's 28th wedding anniversary!  It was so fun!  

The party planning committee got a little crazy at "Zoo Lights"  We had more fun than Emerson and Soren!  

Our sweet nieces!  

After Tess and Mal jumped on the front of this flamingo for the picture, I was left wondering "Well, where am I supposed to stand?"  So, I hopped to the rear and gave it a good spanking.  

The Party Planning Committee (term courtesy of "The Office")  planned a wonderful evening of a shrimp ring, 50% off decorations from Target, steak and fettuccine alfredo.  

Sometimes I step into the kitchen and think that I am part Italiano.  I get out all my Italian seasonings, including fresh basil which is my favorite, and begin making things from scratch because that's the only way Italians do it.  A true Italian would never buy a jar of alfredo sauce and they would never follow a recipe.  So, being the Italian I am I decided to just "wing it" with the fettuccine alfredo.  Charlie, my cousin, had given me lessons before.  He makes the best alfredo sauce.  I thought if a 13-year-old can do it, so can I!  

It was a classic moment in the kitchen for me.  Ty and I were frustrated with eachother for numerous petty things and I was trying to be confident while really hoping that the alfredo might happen to turn out okay and I would be the hero of the meal for night.   After all, when Sean saw that I was making alfredo he got all excited and did a little dance ! "Fettuccine alfredo, Shush!  Are you kidding?"  Sean, I wasn't kidding.  I gave it my best shot. 

It didn't turn out to be a creamy sauce.  It turned out to be a cottage cheese-like texture.  

I have to admit, I didn't handle myself well in this situation.  It was crap, and I let everyone know so.  Then, everyone tried to tell me it tasted okay.  Tessa's encouraging words were "Michelle, the noodles are good, I'm just not eating the big clumps."  Ahh- thanks tess!  

There's no doubt my house looked great for this festive occasion.  My party planning committee, Mallory "Angela" and Tessa "Pam"  and myself "Phyllis", (how did I get to be Phyllis) rocked the decorating end of the party.  Actually, if I'm going to be honest here, I did very little with the decorations.  Tessa and Mallory really were in charge here.  Actually, they were in charge of everything except the food, which went to crap thanks to me!

Lesson learned:  I'll call Charlie before I try making this again.  I'll keep my composure and keep the cuss words to a minimum in the kitchen and maybe, if Ty's lucky, I'll start following recipes.  I'm a skimmer anyways when I read recipes.  I'll just become a more thorough skimmer, if there is such a thing.  

After that story I'll leave you with some pleasant pictures that Sean took for us!