Christmas Breakfast

Before I came along, Dan & his sister Lisa had a tradition of staying the night at their folks place on Christmas Eve, then waking up to stockings and breakfast, and spending a lazy day around the house until everyone else came over for dinner.

I joined that tradition in recent years, though with my own family tradition of dinner and gifts on Xmas eve, we found we got to his folks so late, everyone was already in bed by the time we arrived. Plus, we didn't get to spend any time just the two of us during the holiday, to begin creating our own traditions.

So this year we decided to sleep at home and wake up Christmas morning in our own bed... but missing out on breakfast with his family was unthinkable, so we got up early, put on the pajamas I surprised Dan with as a gift from Santa, and drove down to his parent's house in Kent. His Mom made her famous potato dumplings, bacon, and eggs, and Lisa whipped up some Mimosas to wash it all down.

We spent our usual lazy day around the house, with Lisa working on a puzzle and me crocheting a scarf (my first attempt, thanks to help from my Mom). Then the rest of the family came over, we had a great dinner of prime rib, seafood souffle, and assorted sides, we watched the kids open gifts, did our own gift exchange, and then enjoyed some desserts - including Dan's Mac Nut Pie (which was unanimously loved).

Again, no surprise that cooking gear was amidst my gifts (Dan's Mom picked my name in the gift exchange). I received a 3-tier dessert stand I've been tempted to buy for myself off our wedding registry, as well as whisks, tongs, and a new 2-cup liquid measuring cup - which was much needed because we broke our old one and have been struggling to get good measurements of small amounts in a 4 cup version.