Merry Christmas!

It's been so wonderful to have the whole family around for the holidays!  I ordered the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred workout DVD from Amazon (which I've been hearing about from Elise's blog) for those days where you just don't want to be inside a gym, and it arrived in the mail just in the nick of time:  I'll tell you, I have never laughed so hard during a workout.  My 3 siblings and I all did this together in our house and we could not keep it together.

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Despite all the laughter, we got a really good workout!  Plus it was fun. 

Now, to the food!  For Christmas Eve dinner, my mom made Pasta a la Barbara (Her name is Barbara; this is her specialty).  It's fettuccine alfredo with peas and bits of crispy bacon.  But this year, I suggested my mom try a new Greek yogurt alfredo recipe instead of the traditional cream and butter recipe.

I first learned of this recipe from my friend Michelle, who got it from Runner's World Magazine.

My mom was weary to try it, but she gave it a go.  The verdict?  Success!!  My family said they liked it even better than the original recipe!  The recipe can be found here.

Also on the menu for Christmas Eve dinner, sauteed spinach and roasted butternut squash.  Killer.  I decided my second favorite food after mango is butternut squash.

For dessert we enjoyed boozy cherry brownies and chocolate walnut puddle cookies that my friend Michelle so sweetly sent us in the mail from NYC!

Haha.  I made my brother pose like that so I could send a picture to Michelle.  Scrumptious!

Christmas today was lovely, and this evening my family and I went to the movies to see The Fighter.  It was so GOOD!  Really great acting.  I loved it and now feel determined to marry Mark Wahlberg. 

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This Christmas night is ending white!  It started snowing on the way back from the theater and it's definitely sticking.  I can't wait to see how it looks in the morning!  I hope you all had a warm and jolly holiday!!  Merry Christmas!