Merry Christmas!

Tom and I had a very good Christmas, but are wishing we could have been home with family. We are of course, very thankful that we are able to spend the holidays with each other though. On Christmas Eve we made cranberry bread and a lasagne and bread sticks for dinner (traditional for the Bryants :) ), and I also made a pasta salad to take over to a friend's get together the next day. We also went to midnight Mass, which was suprisingly not too crowded. Our parish started doing two vigil Masses, so I think a lot more people went to those rather than the midnight Mass. Christmas morning we slept in (we're enjoying it while we can!!) and opened presents. We also had some cranberry bread and coffee for breakfast, mmm :). We watched one of the movies Tom gave me (Wall-E, it's a very cute and funny Pixar movie), and then went to the dining facility on base to celebrate with Tom's boss and some co-workers. They served a really great dinner, and it was nice to spend some time with everyone. After that, we went over to our friend's place and had another dinner with all of our friends. It is so difficult for all of us being away from family especially during Christmas, and we have a least one friend who wasn't able to be with her husband, but being with good friends helps. There was a lot of good food, and we also brought a feuerzangenbowle. It's a traditional German thing, where you basically make spiced wine, and then pour brandy or rum over a suger cone that sits above the bowl of wine. You light the siger cone on fire, and then the sugar and rum drip down into the wine. Tasty! Tom had a lot of fun putting it together, and our friends got a kick out of it.