It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Christmas always gives us an excuse to spend more time with our family and friends and that is definitely what we did this weekend!

Friday, I spent the afternoon with Brooke making Christmas cookies.  It was so nice to spend the time chatting and laughing!  After four batches of cookies, I decided to try and make a fondue recipe I saw in one of my holiday books.....I only have one word....DISASTER!  The cheese all clumped up together at the bottom of the pot and I couldn't get it to come together.  Thank goodness for John and his skills when it comes to cleaning up after my cooking attempts, otherwise the pot would have ended up in the trash!  I think I will stick to the cookies and leave the fondue to the experts!!

Friday night, Jackie and Chris came over for dinner.  I know you all think I'm funny that I entertain in my small space - so imagine adding a Christmas tree to the mix!  It worked out perfectly well though.  We had a really fun evening - John and I truly enjoy their company and are so thrilled they are a part of our lives!!

Saturday, after a grueling workout with Stacey, I made another cooking attempt that failed miserably!  I saw a delicious recipe for caramel sea salt truffles that I just had to try.  And, since John and I were going to a holiday party that evening, I thought it would be the perfect gift!  Well......once again, I messed up.  I over cooked the caramel so when I put it in a pot to set, it turned hard as a rock and we couldn't get it out!  John to the rescue again.....I don't know what I would do without him!  So, instead of homemade caramel sea salt truffles, we brought our friends Tom and Carol a bottle of wine from John's friends vineyard.  Much more tasty than the rock hard caramel that would have broken a tooth!!

Sunday we had the pleasure of spending the day with my parents.  Last Christmas, John picked my mother's name in the secret santa and since we had already bought all of her gifts, he decided to give her a day with him - a museum, lunch and time together.  Well, almost a year later, he made good on his gift.  While my mom and John went to the Frick, dad and I hung out at the apartment.  We watched some football (poor Green bay didn't do so good) and I made dinner.....Sunday sauce with meatballs, sausage and a pork chop for flavor (thanks to my mom for sharing grandma's secret).  I didn't think I could go wrong with this as I have made it hundreds of times.....well, the hot Italian sausage was so hot - it was instant heartburn!  Luckily my family isn't afraid of spice, but I think this was even a little hot for them! Spending a Sunday afternoon/evening with my parents in NYC was the perfect way to end the weekend!

Although I thoroughly enjoyed my cooking adventures this weekend, they were not the most successful!
Let's hope I have better luck this week!!!!
Oh - and sorry no pictures, lame, I know!