The highlight, oddly enough, is not the Christmas dinner for us. We started before we had kids and we still do the same every Christmas morning. Karen makes a "Bubble Ring" which takes a good bit of time for raisng and such, so we get up real early. Bubble Ring is basically a cinnamon roll of sorts....sweet dough balls (about an inch in diameter) rolled in butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, then layered into a bundt pan and baked. I build a fire, the house smells great, and the kids get up and we have coffee and milk with the Bubble Ring down by the fire and the tree while we open presents.

Somehow this little tradition has surpassed any dinners for us. New Years has become the big dinner day with us and we include "luck" foods from places we've lived and friends who come. Its become one helluva' monster anymore and pretty diverse with Pork Roast and kraut, blackeye peas, turnip greens, crab cakes, etc.........

Spaw