Christmasy cuteness and cookery

Christmas Eve is when it all happens in Ecuador. On Christmas Day life goes on as usual. Stores are open, people go to work. The Christ child, he was born 'round midnight last night, and today Mary and Joseph are just getting on with learning how to deal with a baby. So we celebrated Christmas Eve with Emily and Cayo and Cayo's family who are visiting from Ecuador.

We were met, on our arrival, by two very excited little girls, babbling and giggling and swirling around us in their red and white party dresses, sewn by their Ecuadorean grandmother. Sofia and her same age Ecuadorean cousin couldn't have been cuter. A veritable blizzard of cuteness we decided. Here is a rare shot of both standing still for a few seconds.

First a wonderful dinner that included freshly made tamales along with ham and all that goes with it, then opening of presents.

I know you're all saying, "can she really be big enough already to ride a tricycle?" The answer is "almost" and look at the nifty steering handle for the supervising parent. It also came with helmet and knee pads.

Christmas Day was my turn to be the hostess and handle the American Christmas part of our holiday. I was so busy I neglected to take any pictures except for one. We'd had pie the night before, and besides, it seems that Ecuadoreans don't really "get" pie and much prefer cake. So I made the Yule Log cake I haven't made in years. It is a chocolate sponge with whipped cream and crushed peppermint candy rolled up inside. Really fancy cooks will make meringue mushrooms to decorate the log. I went for the much easier option of decorating with a little greenery and some powdered sugar "snow".

I have to say it was really delicious and a big hit with everyone. Emily said, "I remember, you used to make this at Christmas!" Andy said, "I don't remember ever seeing this before." Guess which one of my children adores chocolate and which one doesn't.

I hope you all had a great Christmas!