Tis the Season

It has been a while since my last post because December has been busy! I've spent every afternoon at school grading papers, Christmas shopping, or cooking. There hasn't been a good time to sit down and blog, until now. Finally, the moment I've been waiting for, Christmas break! This past week went by fast, and Friday's school day wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. The only craziness I had to put up with was breaking up a girl fight in the hallway. Anyways, 3:00 came, and every teacher darted out of the building.

Now let me highlight a few things that have been going on since my last post.

First, we put up our Christmas tree! We brought it all the way from Greenville (where we celebrated Thaksgiving).

These angels are my favorite ornaments on our tree. We gave these to the musicians in our wedding, and my mom got me a set as well. They are beautiful (they look better in person).

Second, we went to a wedding.

Our friends Zach and Kate got married last weekend on Pat Dye's farm. Saturday night they had a fun party, and the wedding ceremony was Sunday morning. Even though it was cold and rainy, the wedding was beautiful and the setting was perfect!

Some of Nick's fraternity friends with Zach (the groom in the middle) at the party Saturday night.

Above: Me, Rachel, and Stephanie

Below: Austin, Zach, and Nick The wedding ceremonyThe happy couple! Zach and Kate Kirby!

Third, we hosted our Sunday School Christmas party this past week. We provided drinks and the main dish, and everyone else brought other dishes. My mom was in town this past week, and she helped me out tremendously with many things involving the party. Thanks Lovie!

I only have the before pictures of our party becasue after everyone arrived we had such a good time that I just forgot about pictures.

This was our table set up. The gold reindeer ornaments were the party favors.

This was our drink set up. We had a big variety!

And our main dish, Chicken Florentine Joseph from Southern Sideboards Cookbook.

Ingredients:
10 ounces fresh spinach

7 Table spoons butter, divided

Lemon Juice

Salt and pepper to taste

20 fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cup dry sherry wine

4 half chiken breasts

Flour

1 egg, beaten with 1 Tablespoon water

2/3 cup fine bread crumbs

2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Oil

Chopped pimiento

Cook spinach in salted water. I actually didn't include the spinach in my dish, but I'm sure it would be really good. Drain chop and season with 1 Tablespoon butter, lemon juice and salt to taste.

Saute mushrooms in sherry for about 10 minutes. Add remaining butter and salt to taste. Set aside. I bought 1 package of sliced mushrooms for every 4 to 5 pieces of chicken. Salt and pepper chicken; then dust with flour and dip in egg. Coat chicken with mixture of bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Fry in oil until tender. I put them in a dish, poured olive oil on top, and baked chicken in a 350 degree over for about 45 minutes.

My breading station: flour, egg, bread crumb and cheese mixture Breaded chicken before going into the oven.
To serve, place spinach on plate (again, I skipped this part). Top with chicken and pour mushroom saute on top. Garnish with parsley (I added this) and chopped pimiento. This garnish makes the dish very colorful.

Finally, I saw the movie New Moon! I've been waiting to see the Twilight sequel since Thanksgiving. My sweet husband agreed to go with me last night. I will say this movie was much better than Twilight, and it stayed true to the story. However, the book is still better than the movie.

I hope your December has been a good one. Christmas is almost here!