We’ll be spending Christmas with my family in Nebraska, so last weekend we celebrated with Mr. C’s family. The only thing better than Christmas is TWO Christmases!!!
Saturday was baking day and although I’d love to post some pics, our photographer (Mr. C) didn’t do so well and had to be fired from his job due to not actually taking any pictures while we were baking (he did manage to take about a million picture of my beautiful table setup though). Baking day never goes as planned. I always have a million and a half recipes I want to make, usually half of them being things I’ve never made before. This year I was a bit smarter and decided to not quadruple all my recipes. I seriously made like six batches of sugar cookies last year. It’s great when I’m mixing up the dough, but not so much when I’m cutting tons of shapes out and then trying to frost about a million cookies. Downscaling my baking made things much more manageable this year.
I’d love to show you pics of what I baked, but I packed it up and distributed it to some lucky (I hope they feel lucky anyhow) family and friends this week in the hopes of getting it out of the house so I wouldn’t devour it all. Christmas just isn’t Christmas without baking goodies for other people. That must be a quality I got from my grandma :)
Saturday night we had soup, the best crockpot apple cider, and opened gifts. I love watching people open their gifts, more than I really care about mine usually. This year I thought we did pretty wonderful at figuring out something special for each person and everyone seemed to love what we picked out for them (either they loved it or they are GREAT actors/actresses). We followed up the gifts with a game of Scene It, the comedy edition. My team lost (I should mention it was 2 against 3….), but it was so much fun and I actually knew some of the answers! Christmas Eve has always been my favorite part of Christmas because it’s low-key, relaxing, and just a time to enjoy being together. Saturday night was just that and I loved it.
Sunday was the big meal. I have never in my life made a turkey or ham on my own. I make meals with chicken breasts (primarily ONLY chicken breasts because it’s less yucky to touch), beef, fish, and this past year I made some pork for the first time EVER! For our Centner Christmas I decided to make a ham. My friend gave me a wonderful recipe for the glaze and told me to glaze it with homemade glaze in the crockpot. It turned out so amazing and I was quite proud of myself! We had quite a feast – http://whatsgabycooking.com/thyme-and-honey-roasted-carrots/">thyme and honey roasted carrots,http://whatsgabycooking.com/chipotle-mashed-sweet-potatoes/">chipotle mashed sweet potatoes (a huge hit!), twice baked potato casserole, green bean casserole, cooked cranberries, rolls, deviled eggs, and of course the ham.
Yum!
It was a great weekend with wonderful food and company. Now I’m prepping to go home and celebrate Christmas with my family! Sooooo excited!!!! Actually, I was supposed to be asleep tonight by 9 with laundry done, everything packed, and the house getting a light cleaning before we take off tomorrow. It’s now 10:30 and I’m waiting for the laundry, still not packed, blogging, and so hopped up on caffeine that I’m not sure I’ll even be able to sleep. This is another tradition, although every year I tell myself that this year will be different! Oh well!
I hope your gifts are wrapped, your goodies are baked, you’ve found some time to relax and remember what Christmas is all about, and you’re looking forward to Christmas and time with loved ones as much as I am!
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