Our Last Christmas Dinner for 2019 went really well, Thank God!

God really answered our prayers for a good Christmas dinner for

local friends from our nearby church. 

The night before I confess I had a rough night's sleep.

I've been struggling with anxiety related to my sweetheart as I mentioned 

on Friday.... I am still concerned....

Meanwhile, about yesterday...

we went to church... 

liturgy was lovely, strengthening, encouraging personally to me,

and afterwards there was a BEAUTIFUL prayer for a couple who

had been married 50 years ago in that church and attended all the years of their

married life and stood in the same place that they were married 

for a prayer of blessing and praise for their long marriage. 

Here's one of the pictures:

What a beautiful prayer and what a JOY this was!!! 

Lunch after was also lovely... 

I was given the nicest Christmas gift too - 

this mug and spoon, so perfectly picked out for me

and more amazing chocolate! 

Yep, I have so much chocolate to enjoy in the coming months, God willing! 

Thomas Sweet Chocolates also makes ice cream that Mr Husband and I have

enjoyed various times near to our far-away church (they have more than one store).

So that's lovely ... and I happen to love Dove Chocolate! So it's a lovely thoughtful gift!

***

So, the dinner as I was writing about above, went really well.

The cake turned out well though the mirror glaze took a while as the recipe I used in the end

was extremely thin liquid that kept going down the cake without really 'sticking to it' as it were

until it cooled, so a bit to learn there! But it turned out lovely and cutting it one half side for 

cake pieces worked great and the royal icing was the perfect frosting 'glue' to keep the 2 sides

fully stuck together without any incident! 

I made the beef roast according to my Mom's instructions and that turned out well.

I was surprised how much it 'shrunk' but also grew in height 

(it seemed longer and a bit thinner than it was after the 4 hour bake).

One of my dear guests had to cancel last minute but that's how that goes....

these things happen and are understandable... 

She and I will catch up later DV!

***

The sides of green beans, cauliflower, mashed potatoes went well.

The rolls were enjoyed with butter,

the salad was great, 

applesauce and cranberry sauce also enjoyed! 

It was fun to have the Christmas crackers opened and crowns on...

I loved seeing people enjoying the dove chocolates I had out,

the cake, the Chex Mix and the Cheese and Crackers! 

Everyone had a really good time and I was so very glad about that. 

***

 And that was the last Christmas dinner of this year, that I know of... 

liturgically Christmas is 40 days, until the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

in the Temple which (new calendar) is this Saturday, (old calendar) is February 15th... 

***

Well, that was yesterday and the last Christmas Dinner of 2019!