Christmas Eve
In part since I would be cooking a large meal the next day, on Christmas Eve Dad, Ben and I went out to Ethiopian food. Ethiopian cuisine is shared communally on a large round platter of spongy bread, and eaten (without silverware) using additional pieces of spongy bread. We tried a range of items by ordering a meat sampler and vegetable sampler, and they were delicious!
Back at home, it was time to open presents by the tree. We ate homemade peppermint bark and drank hot chocolate (served with a candy cane, of course). Amid dinner and presents we found time to discuss such topics as bilingual education and the Post-World War II economy, so all in all a successful evening.
Christmas Day
I was up a bit late Christmas Eve getting things ready, but still got out of bed Christmas morning to go to yoga with mom. It was a very crowded class--Christmas yoga is apparently quite popular--and afterward they served a range of handmade treats.
Back at home, mom had accidentally bought the wrong bag to cook the turkey in, so we had to figure out how to--gasp--cook the turkey without a bag! We stuffed it and covered it in foil, and then began preparing side dishes. Soon Ben and Cindy arrived bearing homemade hummus, which was perfect since we were hungry and the turkey was going to be a few hours. We ate the hummus with vegetables, along with chestnuts, marzipan cookies that I had baked the night before, and gingerbread that I baked that day.
We took a break from cooking to open presents and stockings, which included turmeric powder and sea weed along with dark chocolate (Santa shops at Whole Foods now).
Unfortunately, this engrossed us so completely that we forgot about our goat cheese-stuffed, bacon wrapped prunes in the oven until the fire detector alerted us to the fact that they were ablaze! We managed to save a few, and they were very tasty.
When it was time for Christmas dinner, we enlisted Ben to make gravy from the turkey's juice. Though he had never made gravy before, he rummaged through my spice collection and found what he needed to make the highlight of the meal. We put the gravy on our turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, which we ate along with cranberry sauce and sauteed brussels sprouts.
We had apple betty and sweet potato pie available for dessert, but we had filled up so much on appetizers while waiting for the turkey that we didn't want any, and decided to take them home as leftovers.
By the end we were all pretty tired, but we had had a very enjoyable, relaxed Christmas together.
