I hope everyone is having a great holiday. Its the eve of my return to work and Amy beginning to take down the tree and decorations. We had an awesome holiday. This is the first year where the kids really got it. It is still a little odd to be here and away from family at a time of year where you most expect to see everybody. Its also strange because work doesn't slow down like it does in the states (i had to take a vacation day for christmas day). Christmas eve was me cooking (we had friends over for christmas dinner, but more on that later). I was able to know off work a little early to swing by the french butcher on my bike ride home. My plan was to do some roast chicken (ham, turkey and roasts are tough to come by here). When I arrived at the butcher, they were mobbed and out of chicken...but there was a beautiful 9lb standing rib roast that i snapped up. After arriving home, we spent some time with the kids and then I made some pies and some other preparatory things for dinner. We ordered Indian take-out for our meals and after the kids went to bed, we put the presents out.
The next morning the kids made it until 6:50am! When they came to wake us up, I went out to the living room by myself to turn on the lights, start the ipod loaded with the christmas classics, start the coffee, and put the homemade cinnamon rolls i made the prior evening in the oven. The we unleashed the hounds! They had fun...here is a little video (also some stuff from sanya on the front end that we want to share)
Watch christmas 2009 in Family | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
For dinner in the afternoon, we had two couples come by for dinner. I made the following menu:
- carrot and ginger soup
- horseradish and garlic crushed rib roast
- artisinal macaroni and cheese
- boulangerie potatoes
- brussels sprouts roasted craft style
- home made red onion focaccia
- fresh salad with homeade red wine and honey viniagrette
- apple pie
- chocolate pie
It was a nice time...good conversation, the beef was really, really good (even for china) and we had the hangovers to prove it.
All in all, a great holiday. The kids just loved every minute of it. I hope everyone had a similar outcome.
