Chicken-Fried Tofu

Mr. GV doesn't do a lot of cooking.  It's not that he isn't a good cook, he just doesn't do a lot of work in the kitchen.  But when he does---wow!  He is good at cooking with his instincts, whereas I am much more a follower of recipes. 

There's a yummy bit of food on the hot bar at Whole Foods called Chicken Fried Tofu.  And it is so good. 

Mr. GV thought he would try his hand at making a similar recipe, and he did a great job of it!  It wasn't exactly the same, but very close, and very delicious. He steamed vegetables and cooked rice to go along with it, and I so enjoyed it!

Chocolate!!

My husband knows me so well.  He filled my stocking with lots of vegan chocolate goodies, all ordered from Vegan Essentials.  VE is a great resource for anyone looking for vegan items for yourself or as a gift.  There are other great online vegan stores out there, but VE is the first one we tried and the one we have ordered from most often.  We also order vitams and other supplements from them as well.  (Notice one of the candy bars is open and one is actually empty--just a wrapper left.  I simply could not wait!)

I'm not getting anything out of mentioning VE.  It's just an online vegan store that we've had good results from, and I want to make sure others know about it. 

Christmas dinner

Our Christmas dinner this year was....breakfast!  It's nice to get a break from the "traditional" Christmas dinner that takes so long to prepare.  And after all, we had pretty much the same thing just a month previously for Thanksgiving. 

I actually remembered the Christmas crackers this year!

 My mil got in on the fun

 as did my mom.

 I even got Mr. GV to pose with me for a picture.  (And immediately after, he took that paper crown off as fast as he could. lol) 

 I'm so glad my in-laws came over for dinner.  We spent so many years running from one house to the next.  Last year was the first year we didn't go to their house on Christmas Day (although we have never missed a Christmas Eve) and the only reason we didn't then was because Mr. GV had to work all day and we were waiting for him in the evening to do our family Christmas.  I see a new pattern developing---the in-laws can now come to us! 

After my sister and her boyfriend left, Macy decided she could finally play with her new toy in peace, and the squeaking commenced. 

Christmas #5

We spent Christmas Eve night with Mom.  Christmas Day morning we Skyped with J and enjoyed his excitement over his Christmas toys plus watched the "unveiling" of the wooden kitchen we got him, and that his dad put together for him.

Around noon we finally got around to opening our gifts.  lol I passed them out this year.  I cracked up at the fact that Macy's toy was put in a Victoria's Secret bag from last year!

This year we all had good cameras on our phone, as evidenced below.

 (I don't have a picture of my sister with her Ipod Touch camera, but it was in play too!)

Mr. GV got a good laugh out of this shirt that Mom got for him.

Mom is not a big reader (the only one in the family, including both son-in-laws and grandson) but she enjoys a good biography every now and then, and she is a big fan of Regis. 

 My sweet old girl.  I'm just thrilled to have her here for another Christmas. I'm missing her brother, Max, bunches right now.  I miss Callie the cat too, but she kept to herself a lot.

 Sparky getting his lion from Mom and his cube from us.

 Again, she was SO OVER all this Christmas stuff.  She was also sitting in the same chair as me, safe from my sister's boyfriend.  Macy is nervous around anyone who she hasn't known from birth.  Seriously.  Well, except for J, and we say that she thinks he is her puppy, because she is protective over him.

She decided to just ignore her toy for the time being. 

Here's Casper with his goose and rope toys.

Casper getting some lovin' from B earlier.

 Mr. GV just hanging out, waiting for the fun to start.

 My toe socks.  Mom gifted my sisters and I each with a pair last Christmas.  I've never had a pair before.  Not so sure how I feel about them---it's kinda like a permanent toe wedgie.  lol

S and B with their stash.

Christmas #4

Christmas Eve evening, we took my Mom with us to my in laws house.  Here's just a few pictures from that evening.

 My mom got an adorable ornament with "Doodlebug" on it, which is the nickname she's had for J since he was born. 

We were having a good laugh over something at this point. 

A Debbie Macomber book--the last in her Cedar Cove series.  *Sob*

Mr. GV explaining to his mom how her new home phone works.

 We decided to drag Mr. GV's dad into the 21st century by giving him his first cell phone!  He's 71 and has a history of heart attack.  I consider it a necessity to have a cell phone for emergencies at this point in his life. 

Christmas #3

Our next quick Christmas celebration was here at our home.  We exchanged our gifts Christmas Eve morning. 

Naturally Macy was looking forward to this part.  lol  Here she is checking out her stocking, which had a bag of treats inside.

Meanwhile Gabby enjoyed her own bit of treats from her stocking.

 Mr. GV enjoyed getting his tablet computer.

 And so did I! (I got the Kindle Fire.)

 If you have dogs, do they know how to get their toys out of gift bags?  All our dogs have always been able.  Matter of fact, Buffy the cocker spaniel, our first dog, would search under the Christmas tree until she found her toy.  lol

Macy seems to enjoy her penguin.  She also got a Lambchomp (like the puppet) from her Nana, and a bone-shaped plush toy from her Grandma.

Christmas #2

This year we had 5 different Christmases, simply because our family is spread out now and we take advantage of whatever time we can get together.  The first was on Thanksgiving, with my youngest sister and her family.

The second was a few days before Christmas.  My adult nephew (on Mr. GV's side) just got back from a tour of duty in Korea and visited for a couple weeks here.  He new duty station is in Nevada, so he drove his new car out there, and his dad and brother went with him, in order to visit with bil's daughter and her three little ones. 

This is just a random picture of our tree with gifts underneath.

Younger nephew, bil's partner, and myself. 

Bil opening his gifts.

The three children of my in-laws and two of their grand kids.