Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Eatmas!

We've been eating a lot these past few days. I thought the cookie exchange was a great idea until people showed up with really awesome treats. That was just the beginning of Holiday Eat Fest '09. Christmas eve morning we hosted brunch for Brother Nick and his family and our friends from Seattle, Rick and Anya. (With surprise guests Tanya and Stephanie swinging by to drop off gifts and a beautiful bouquet, respectively.) Our menu included bacon, a zucchini and tomato frittata, red potato hashbrowns, Greek honey yogurt and bananas, spiced pumpkin muffins, and mimosas. Fast forward to Christmas dinner where we served country ham (baked in Dr. Pepper), macaroni and cheese, brussel sprouts with bacon, and bread, with roasted apple pie and ice cream for dessert. It should be noted that while Henry did not eat very much at the dinner table with his folks and grandpa Gilroy, he did later consume several helpings of macaroni and cheese and most of the brussel sprout and bacon concoction on his plate. The kid eats brussel sprouts, people! We expect to eat more tomorrow when we hit Darr's sister's place for a Boxing Day celebration. Here's hoping the in-laws aren't too upset when they see what we bought their son, Gavin, for Christmas. (Intrigued? Click here to see how awful we are.)

As for the presents, there were many and all of them were awesome. The handmade count is high this year because my mom now has a room dedicated to doing crafty things. From her famous - at least in our family - slippers to a beautiful cable knit sweater for Henry, everything was gorgeous. (I keep telling her she should open up her own Etsy store. The pumpkin hat alone is a gold mine.) I have a new cookbook - Mastering the Art of French Cooking. While I don't plan on making every recipe in the next 365 days, I am looking forward to working on more challenging dishes. Probably we'll start with desserts. Is there any better place? Because Darr insists he is the very definition of Bah! Humbug!, I opted out of buying him a "big" gift and instead filled a stocking with a few trinket gifts. He has assured me this was the right move. I find myself unable to exclude him entirely from Christmas activities so the stocking stuffers were my attempt at compromising. (Don't like gifts? Okay, I'll only buy you a few small ones.)

Of course there were pictures...

Christmas Eve
Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer


And there were pics of Christmas day, too...
Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

5 comments:

Elizabeth Prata said...

Merry Christmas! Mmmm, the brussels sprouts shredded...I'll have to try that. And with bacon, too. Yum.

Henry is so cute! What a lovely family you are. Truly blessed. I hope 2010 is just as blessed for you.

Cathy said...

Merry christmas!

Henry looks like he enjoyed every minute of it.

Miss Amelia Jane. said...

Great pictures, but let it be known that I coined the phrase "Montana Nana", since we have 2 :P

Christie said...

From Miss MVK:"You shred your brussel sprouts?! Inspired!! Really and truly! Share your methodology? We are big brussel sprout fans at Maison Piglet. :)"

(I'm posting the comment because Darr said the crazy spammers have a way to search comments for email addresses even if you write out "at" and "dot" and Miss MVK asked me to email her the recipe.)

Christie said...

Megan,
Think what you like, my dear. Henry was here a whole 40 days before Miss Amels.