Christmas Treats and Feast Part 2

The cooking began first thing Christmas morning.  We had some time to get brunch prepared and ready while the rest of the gang opened presents at their own house, then drive over to us.   As I walked down the stairs, I felt all giddy like a child. I knew what would be waiting for us.  On Christmas Eve, I helped my father-in-law put together a really cool train table.  It has lots of moving parts to lead to hours of fun playtime!

I always look forward to seeing the stockings overflowing with goodies so much that they can no longer hang so they are placed on the floor by the fireplace. And I absolutely love when there are big toys put together by Santa ready for you to play with!  One of the greatest Christmas memories from my childhood was walking out to the family room to tear into presents before the sun was even up, still rubbing my eyes to wake up and to my surprise a brand new bike from Santa waiting for me by the tree.  Talk about excitement and a Christmas gift I'll never forget!

My mother-in-law and I made a simple and delicious brunch that would hold us over until dinner.  She made a very nice spread that included a fruit salad, homemade sticky buns and hashbrown casserole.  I whipped up a breakfast sausage casserole for the first time and it turned out fantastic!  Everything was very delicious and went well with our traditional mimosas!  We dug right in once the rest of the clan arrived.

 

The baby of the family kept us all entertained throughout the day.  She oo'd and ah'd at opening presents and giggled loudly while she played with new toys.  I think each of us took a turn on the floor with her while she showed us new things.

Christmas dinner was a delight as usual.  This year we each made a few new things to change it up a bit from the normal menu.   A big change that led to some intense discussion was a spiral cut ham instead of turkey.  (Certain people that I won't mention are very critical of ham as they don't care for the texture or possibility of fatty parts.) I welcomed the change to ham this year as I am not a huge fan of turkey anyway.   We also switched out some of the other standard fare such as fancy baked mashed potatoes instead of regular mashed potatoes and we added a new item, Roasted Brussel Sprouts.  Both dishes were full of flavor in my opinion.  It's always nice to discover new dishes to throw into the mix of things.

Our Christmas feast consisted of:
Spiral Cut Ham
Corn Casserole
Fancy Baked Mashed Potatoes
Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Balsamic Glaze
Ciabatta Stuffing
Homemade Yeast Rolls

Cheers to a Happy New Year and I look forward to discovering and sharing new culinary treats in the coming year!