Merry Christmas!

Well John and I have celebrated many Christmases together but this was our first as a married couple so it was really special for us, even though last year was hard to top since we got engaged on Christmas. :-)

We definitely missed our families this year, especially all our cute nieces and nephews because kids really make it so much fun.  But we did manage to have some fun and we enjoyed having some quiet time home together (well, I got sick too so I'm very glad we had nowhere to be because I would not have wanted to go).

I was going to post about this earlier in the month when we put up the tree, but I never got around to it...ha ha.  Anyway, we got a real tree this year and it is huge!  We decided to get a tree from the lot the local Boy Scouts were running as a fundraiser.  It was a great deal too-just $30 for this huge tree:

in all it's glory

I admit it is a little ridiculous, but I've gotten used to it and when we take it down this weekend our living room is going to seem much bigger.  The picture is from before I added the tree skirt and before any presents, but I never did take any other photos...it doesn't do it justice because it's hard to tell how big it really is but this is the best I could do, as this was taken from the other side of the room and I could barely fit the whole thing into the frame. :-)  You can kind of tell if you notice how far back the lamp and shelf are, the tree is against the same wall.

I also wanted a wreath this year but I couldn't find one I like in any store that wasn't more money than I wanted to pay so I decided to make one from the branches we trimmed from the bottom of the tree.  I think I spent about $6 total and I like the way it turned out-seems I might be a little crafty afterall!

So Christmas day was great for us.  We slept in and then opened our presents from each other, our parents, and John's sister's family, who had us in our sibling gift exchange (we opened the presents from my siblings while we were in UT with them earlier this month).  We were spoiled for sure-thanks everyone!  I have to also say that I was so excited about the things John picked for me-he is the best husband ever!

John opening his stocking

me opening my stocking

with my Christmas pineapple...and then we stopped taking pictures

After presents we made the traditional Cutler family Christmas breakfast.  I didn't take any pictures, but I'm putting the recipe at the end of this post for anyone who wants to try it.  Later (much much later) we had our Christmas dinner of ham and cheesy/funeral/Christmas potatoes.  So basically we lounged around all day and ate a lot. :-)

Overall we had a great Christmas-but we missed everyone in UT so much!  We've already decided what we want for Christmas next year: to get travel home for Christmas!  We hope that all of you had a great holiday season as well.  We are excited and looking forward to the new year-it will be hard to top 2010 but we are sure going to try!

can you tell he loves this?  

and she feels about the same! :-)

Sausage Sunburst

Start by browning 1 lb pork sausage links in a skillet and draining the sausage fat into a measuring cup.  Arrange several (about half) of the browned sausage links in a sprayed 9" round pan in a sunburst pattern. Set aside and have your oven preheated to 400.

For the cornbread:
1 C cornmeal
1 C flour
1/4 C sugar
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1/3 C oil
1 egg, beaten
1 C milk

Measure the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well.  Add wet ingredients and mix until just blended.  Do not over mix.  Pour over sausage links in the prepared pan.  Bake at 400 for 25 minutes.  Serve with sausage gravy (below) or maple syrup.
Note: this recipe can be doubled and baked in a 9x13 pan with the sausage arranged however you want.

For the milk gravy:
1/4 C sausage fat
1/2 C chopped onion
1/4 C flour
2 C milk
salt and pepper to taste
remaining sausage, cut into bite size pieces

Using the same skillet you browned the sausage in:
Pour 1/4 C sausage fat back into the skillet. Add and brown chopped onion.  Cool the pan to medium heat and blend in flour.  Stir until all the flour has been absorbed into the fat.  Add milk all at once.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Boil 1 minute.  Adjust seasoning and stir in the sausage pieces.  Serve over cornbread.