As Bob says... VACATION !!!

The Garlick family decided to take a hint from John Grisham

and Skip Christmas. We spent a week in the beautiful Florida

sunshine for some well deserved rest and relaxation. We rode

some wicked roller coasters (Sheikra, Montu, Kumba, Hulk),

played in the sun and surf and frolicked in a water park. But

most of all we shared some very good times together. Bob

taught us to get crazy and yell out VACATION whenever

anything went just a little bit off. Try it sometime. I also

recommend skipping Christmas once in your life.

Bob and Cass buying pickles at the world's

largest flea market... so white trash.

Chet soaking up some Florida sunshine.

Cassandra convincing (OK maybe shoving) Dione
to go body surfing in the Atlantic.

Message to our girl...

A beautiful Florida sunset.

Christmas Eve in front of our villa.

Chocolate Island desert...yummy!

Our own little Christmas tree.

Presents!

Flippers Pizza...so nice we ate there thrice.

Pie Night 2008

Pie Night has become an annual Garlick family tradition since the year 2000. It began as a way to wish our neighbors Merry Christmas instead of coming up with a new gift for each year. I remember one year where we handed out a quart of ice cream and a scoop with a clever poem which read..."You've been naughty so here's the scoop...this years gift is snowman poop!" I make roughly 20 different deserts that are mostly pies, but also include cheesecakes and an occasional cake or two. Yes, I make them ALL from scratch in one day. I change it up each year, but I am also careful to include the favorites. One of my best pies is a White Chocolate Banana Cream pie which takes about 2 hours to prepare and is always the first one to disappear. Perhaps my favorite thing about pie night is to watch the wives chastise the husbands over how many pieces they have eaten. And then I promptly catch their eye and pass them another when the wives aren't watching. Shh... keep that a secret!

The pie display.

3 tiers of fruit pies.

The blackberry pie I made this year was so

beautiful before I had even baked it that I

just had to have a picture. This was Dione's

favorite pie this year.

This is my friend Francesca who flew all the

way from NYC with her parents Lisa and

Frank to come to pie night

My friend Leisa is sampling a couple slices.

Mike looks very happy with his choice

of the red velvet cake.

Here I am serving it all up.

Caroline is having a difficult time deciding which

one... so she just tried a slice of 8 different

pies. That's right 8. She said she worked out

the next morning.