So stuffed, Merry Christmas, 8 pies + 1 cheesecake

What a feast! Our turkey was so beautiful, the wine, dressings, salad, veggies all amazing. Truly, today was a really superb Christmas. The boys were sweet, enthusiastic and grateful 90% of the time; I was quite proud of them overall. Being with dear family friends brought a depth to and tempered old dynamics within our nuclear family. Not that we're a dysfunctional or overly weird family, just that close outsiders often bring equilibrium. You know? I am totally stuffed. Y'all know the apple streusel bread I always rave about? I bought a gorgeous loaf of pull-apart rolls from that bakery and we turned it into garlic bread. And our salad, aah...mixed greens, pomegranate seeds, goat cheese, tomatoes and a balsamic vinaigrette.

Even after all this -actually, I paced in anticipation- I had four desserts: pumpkin cheesecake, and a slice each of blackberry, lemon and pecan-oatmeal pie. We've got Christmas carols playing, a fire burning, and all feels right.

Happy Holidays all!

Dinner last night, pies coming along

The spaghetti and meatballs last night were wonderful, and look at these loaves of Louisiana garlic bread. Aah, mamma mia. We are in the thick of cooking again now- my cornbread is in the oven for the cornbread dressing, pies are being made and cooling, we're all in our PJs just creating away. The boys could not have been more wonderful recipients of Santa's generosity this morning. It's just darling to see them wonder how Santa got a kitchen into Oliver's room and a fort in Jack's...and all while being so quiet and sneaky. :)

Dinner was so good, plans for today

It is so great having my sister here and a real treat that she came in a day before anyone else. She, Tom and I and are thick as thieves, loved the wine she brought, and thought dinner was excellent. T made a great mustard-maple glaze for the salmon which we grilled on a plank. Do y'all do that? It  just imparts such a great smoky flavor as well as that of whatever wood you use, and it really keeps the fish moist as the meat never touches the hot grates directly. The boys slept until 6:15 this morning which was extremely late for us and relatively blissful. Could I have used another three hours? Absolutely, but I'll feel grateful that it wasn't in the 5:00s.

For dinner tonight I'm going to make a big batch of mujadarra (the onion/lentil/rice dish) with spiced yogurt -here's a link to the recipe- and today I need to make another blackberry pie and one last meat mixture for a dressing. Ok, J asked that we do a family craft this morning and each make a rattlesnake (Mr. Wild West in effect), so I need to go finish my rattle. T's snake is ridiculously good. Heh.