Happy holidays, from our family to yours!

We spent the last two days making memories and building our own traditions.  We missed our family like crazy, but other than it was one of our best Christmas days ever.  It helped that most of our new family traditions involved eating lots of tasty food!

One event I hope not to turn into a tradition was December 23rd’s 3 am grocery trip.  We had a slight misstep with the baking I did for my co-workers’ Christmas gifts.  One of my pies burnt to a crisp and I had to go buy a replacement gift in the middle of the night.  Also, we ate the salvageable half of the burnt pie… at 3 am.

I made my Hello Dolly Pies and they were delicious.  I hope everyone liked them!

We exchanged gifts at our company holiday breakfast.

Our bosses took us out for a delicious meal at Mythos.  I had never been there before but I’m still sure that what I ordered was the best thing on the menu.  A burrito with turkey, eggs, potatoes and cheddar, smothered in hollandaise.

It came with berries and Greek yogurt on the side and everything was delicious.  I ate half and brought the rest to Adam who loved it as well.

We ran a few errands when Adam picked me up from breakfast and we ended up going on an adventure.  Vineeta International Market has been hiding under my nose on Grant for months!

We had a grand time wandering around and came home with lots of goodies.

Including the Thumbs Up cola we shared.

Then we trimmed the tree.

We couldn’t buy a big tree because the dog is a monster but we enjoyed this little magical grow tree I bought Adam for Hanukkah.

And then we had pie.

Gaaah; can this be a yearly tradition?  That pie is so fricking good.

So was the eggnog seltzer I sipped on all day.

I had a salad for lunch.

Romaine with peanut sauce, buckwheat groats, chopped honeycrisp, and cheddar.

Plus the last of the sugar-plum candies.

We did pizza for dinner.

Why mess with our usual traditions?

Then we stayed up late watching “How I Met Your Mother.”  We’ve decided that’s our new tv marathon of choice.

This morning (Christmas!!) we slept in late like a couple of old people.  It was pretty great.  The dog started his morning with sirloin and bacon wet food.

And I started mine with toffee.

Plus a glass of eggnog with nutmeg.

Then we got all fancy with breakfast.

Seriously fancy.  Check out we bought at Wegman’s –

Lobster for Christmas breakfast?  That can definitely become a tradition!  We cooked turkey bacon and then used the skillet to sautéechopped lobster tail in butter.  Then we scrambled in egg whites (leftover from the pies, plus one yolk) and baby spinach.

It was quite good.  And lunch was a winner as well.

We used this Christmas tree pasta that my co-worker gave me.

I sautéed sliced mushroom, chopped red peppers, and baby spinach in butter and evoo.  Then I tossed in pasta, a big dollop of Nayo, and a huge handful of shredded cheese.

Ridiculous good.

And the bowl Cannoli ice cream I had next was even better.

Ben and Jerry just keep getting it right.

For dinner we went over to our friends’ house for a party.  We brought over a good dip, and terrible chips for everyone to try.

The White Chocolate Peppermint Pringle’s looked so nasty that there was no way Adam and I could pass up the experience of trying them for a measly $2.  Pro tip – freaking terrible, aka totally worth the money to try.

My dinner plate.

Tons of salad with mashed potato and mac and cheese.  With homemade strawberry shortcake for dessert.

I ate about half.  Plus a candy cane.

That cane was actually my hook in a candy cane fishing game we played.  We went through a series of challenges from Minute to Win It.  Hilarious.

Adam and I won!  Woot!

We took a long walk to get home and stopped for sushi on the way back.

I had two pieces of inarai (tofu skin) but some amazing fried thing.  It was the perfect way to end a great holiday.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

P.S. Here’s a video of Webster opening his Christmas present.  You’re welcome.