Monday, December 25, 2006

Christmas with Rabbits

With the excuse that having rabbits in the living room there is no room for a regular-sized Christmas tree, my parents have taken to the miniature variety. It is true that with rabbits, there is no real place to put the gifts until the last minute. On the other hand, I must admit that Orion and Ms. Spots are very decorative under the tree, which is one of their favorite places to nap. My mother was originally concerned that Orion would be anxious to see what was up there (I don't know why the ever-curious Ms. Spots wouldn't also want to know), but neither rabbit has shown the slightest inclination to get involved with the tree. Perhaps they are too busy cuddling up.
In my role as Designated Chef, I was allotted two sous-chefs in the person of my sibling and an old friend of his who came for Christmas Eve. Between the three of us, we managed to prepare a suitable feast with sweet potatoes, roasted vegetables, sauteed spinach with raisins and walnuts, a jello recipe, and some ham. I am pleased to say that my sweet potatoes enticed a former hater of sweet potatoes to ask for seconds, and while we made some errors in following the jello recipe (not only did we let it set a little too long before adding the other ingredients, but we didn't notice that the can of pineapple was 20oz while the recipe expected 8oz), everyone thought the jello was perfectly good. There had been plans to make mashed potatoes, cornbread, peas, and pie as well, but the Designated Chef has not been too energetic and also has trouble finding implements in the maternal kitchen. Fortunately, we had more than enough to eat as it was.
The Christmas Day dinner is now underway. There will be an Arabian Squash Casserole (an item that John and I have prepared with great success in the past), more roasted vegetables, more sweet potatoes, more jello, and whatever else I have the energy to put into action. I think this will mean peas and perhaps the cornbread that didn't get made last night. Unfortunately there were no fresh cranberries to be found on any of our forays to the various grocery stores.
At least we have nice-looking compost for the holidays (contents of the litter boxes are buried somewhere under the leaves).

4 Comments:

Blogger P'tit-Loup said...

I remember my bunny being in love with the christmas tree, finally a tree in the house. He would nibble on the lower branches and just was so content with it. We had to watch for the lights though and be sure he did not chew on the wires. He ususally was pretty good about leaving the gifts alone with the exception of one gift one year, which I believe was a bath mat, that he kept attacking on a daily basis. It must have smelled like a girl bunny!

Merry Christmas

December 26, 2006 1:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The recipe for Arabian Squash Casserole sounds like something you should consider sharing with your devoted readers :P

(I love the rabbits under the tree!)

December 28, 2006 8:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It sounds like you've had a lovely visit! I hope your mother recovers quickly. Happy New Year to you and yours!

December 30, 2006 7:20 AM  
Blogger Karla said...

Orion was intrigued by the presents but when I told him they were toys for humans, he seemed to lose interest. He and Ms. Spots did enjoy playing with the wrapping paper afterwards.

I may manage to get the squash casserole recipe up one of these days. It's based on one in a book.

December 30, 2006 7:08 PM  

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