Hugs Are My Favorite

This blogging once a day thing is pretty fun, but it definitely makes for a GIANT post! For starters, I'd like to introduce the sassiest, grouchiest, funniest dog in the world...Arnie:

Arnie is my parents' dog, but we had him before Salah and I moved out, so I still consider him our family pet. He is cranky and very verbal, but it's so much fun!

Salah played Santa Claus, handing out gifts even though there weren't names on them :)

While mom and dad watched on:


After we unwrapped presents (hurray for winter scarves!!!) I reached for a cup of coffee with Truvia and a little French Vanilla soy milk:

Nate hung out with his new hat from Salah:


And for breakfast we had banana....

Walnut...PANCAKES!!!!

With eggs and turkey sausage of course ;)

A little later I went on the porch to take photos of the icicles on the porch, but found that I liked this guy a little better:

Then Salah and I helped my mom bake dessert: Apple Crumb Pie and Pumpkin Pie!

And we might've had a snack of multi-grain bread with a little butter:

Mommy made homemade whole wheat rolls:

Oh.my.gosh. they were completely, amazingly, perfectly delicious!

Another shot of the Apple Crumb Pie, baked:

And the pumpkin....heavenly!

And....(drum roll pleeeeeeeeeeeease) THE GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE!!!!!!! This is my favorite dish of the holiday season, and I know you can make it year round, but let's face it: it doesn't get much better than green bean casserole with ham/turkey and all the fixins!

We toasted with a little White Zinfandel...so weird that Salah's 21 now...

GREEN JELLOOOOOO!!! I remember so many Thanksgivings and Christmases past where Salah would eat just about 1/2 of this dish. It's lime Jell-O, cream cheese, and crushed pineapple, with pecans on the bottom!

The full plate shot with a baked sweet potato, whole wheat roll, ham, green bean casserole, and the green Jell-O:

Another shot of my GBC friend :)

And yes, TWO slices of pie with fat free whip on top:

We finished the night off by watching Lars and the Real Girl, which is a fantastic movie if you haven't seen it. It'll make you laugh, cry, and think about the way you treat people. What else would you possibly want in a movie?

I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas, and my you have a weekend FILLED with love and laughter with the people you love! :)