Christmas

It was a lovely day at my mother's with all seven of my little nieces and nephews and their parents. Children make Christmas so much more lively.
I wrapped my gifts in tea dyed tissue paper with bits of old sheet music and vintage, yellowed lace. It was difficult to use the delicate tissue paper, but the result was very pretty.
My culinary contribution was the Swedish rice. It's a traditional pudding our family makes by cooking rice in milk for a seemingly endless amount of time. The result is lovely, light and fluffy. It's served topped with a lovely, bright dollop of tart lingonberries.
In spite of all the hassle and difficulty of Christmas, it is lovely in the end. I think the important parts have more to do with joy and family.

( Oh, and the mulled wine recipe I tried this year was fabulous:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Mulled-Wine-230571 )