On Christmas Eve Eve (December 23rd), my parents arrived from Georgia, and we celebrated with my dad's side of the family at my cousin's house in Norfolk.
What We Ate:
- for starters: marinated goat cheese with French bread
- beef burgundy (or "boeuf bourguignon" as Julia Child's would say)
- greens beans with garlic
- to drink:
- for dessert: cheesecake topped with cherry compote & rosemary (thanks, Topher!)
On Christmas Eve, Topher's parents drove up from North Carolina, and we had a casual, buffet-style lunch-dinner ... eat what you want, when you want, graze your way through the afternoon ... you get the idea. Afterwards we went to the candlelight Christmas Eve service at our church.
What We Ate:
- chili with a choice of topping (cilantro, scallions, corn chips, shredded cheese)
- homemade corn bread
- salmon log with crackers
- sriracha & wasabi deviled eggs (a Food & Wine recipe)
- Waldorf salad
- apple cake
- chocolate peppermint pinwheel cookies (an Alton Brown recipe, but we left out the crushed candy canes)
On Christmas Day, all six of us - my parents, Topher's parents, and the two of us - were together again to open presents and share a meal (which I forgot to photograph - oops).
Topher gave me three amazing gifts: an incredibly warm & comfortable merino wool jacket (it kinda feels like wearing a blanket, and I didn't want to take it off), all seven of the Harry Potter books on CD (for me to listen to while I'm driving back & forth to work), and bound copies of The Strand magazine from 1892 - the original publication of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories!
What We Ate:
- bourbon-ginger ham (the one that he practiced last week)
- creamed spinach
- three-cheese macaroni (with parmesan, mozzarella, & fontina)
- to drink: Shoofly viognier (Australian)
- for dessert: leftover apple cake and chocolate peppermint pinwheel cookies; creme de menthe brownies (thanks, Jinks!); sugar cookies (made by my mother-in-law); dark chocolate-covered almonds (thanks, Randy!) ... clearly we weren't short on sweets
And then it snowed, and I mean really snowed. We got 8-10 inches on the day after Christmas. Topher & I were scheduled to play on the worship team that day, so we dutifully got up early and drove the un-plowed roads to church. About two dozen people came to the first service; another two dozen showed up for the second service; and the third service was cancelled. But it was beautiful to see our church all blanketed in white.
I hope you and your family had a joyful, relaxing, and delicious Christmas as well!
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