This post is NOT about another kitchen debacle.

Just wanted to get it out of the way up front.  No matter what it may seem like towards the end, this post is NOT about another kitchen debacle.  

It's actually about our awesome Christmas Eve.

First, we braved the movies with Liam for the first time.

General Idea: Liam can sit quietly on our laps for a couple of hours like he does in church.  We'll go to a movie that's been out for a while so the crowd will be smaller, and if he fusses too much Luke will take him out.

Reality: Liam slept through the first half of the movie on my lap and the second half on Luke's lap.

Result:  Perfect.  We both got to see Breaking Dawn Part 1 in it's entirety and make fun of it with each other under our breath. 

After the movie we went to California Pizza Kitchen and walked around the mall a bit.

Back at home we made an ornament for Liam's first Christmas.

General Idea: Paint Liam's hand and help him put a print on a glass ball.
Reality: Luke held Liam while he grabbed a foam brush full of pain and squeezed it with his hand.  Liam then tried to grab the glass ball.  I pulled his hand off quickly enough that it only smeared a little but still resembled a handprint.  Repeat.
Result: Not bad, actually. The prints really do look like his hands (sort of), and now we have a keepsake.

Later, after Liam went to bed we made steak for dinner. (Luke's family eats steak for dinner every year on Christmas, so we've kept the tradition).

General idea: Since we don't have a grill, we'll sear the steak in a hot pan and finish cooking it in the oven. Google says this is the most effective way to cook steak without a grill.
Reality: Searing the steak made so much smoke that it filled our entire apartment and set off the smoke detector upstairs. We turned on every fan and opened windows and doors. The smoke detector outside of Liam's room did not go off, and he slept through the entire thing. We ate dinner with the front door open.
Result: Our steak was AWESOME. We managed to transfer it to the oven and keep an eye on it while dealing with the smoke detector, fans, and doors. It was moist and flavorful from marinating for 24 hours, and came out perfectly medium (pink in the middle).  While we were eating it, Luke said, "I wish we could put how this tastes on your blog."  It was so good.

After dinner, we watched another movie together.

General Idea: Watch It's a Wonderful Life. (Like we do every year).
Reality: Turns out we've never actually watched our copy on the DVD in our DVD player.  Luke bought it while on his mission in Russia, and we have always had to watch it on the computer and hook the computer up to the TV.  The CD drive on our computer was broken, so no It's a Wonderful Life for us this year.
Result: We watched Star Trek instead.  Is it ok that I was perfectly happy with this arrangement?  Because I was.

All in all, it one of the best Christmas Eves that I can remember.

Luke and I have chosen our word for 2012 and settled on some goals, so stay tuned for out turn-of-the-year post in a day or two.