Christmas Eve

I had a nice long weekend–it started with Friday off from work, I went swimming and then met a friend for a pedicure. It was really nice to see her and catch up with her after a few months of us both being swamped with life. The weekend wasn’t awesome, honestly–lots of chores and errands and trying to frantically get ready for Christmas. BUT Christmas Eve was nice!

We got to sleep in a bit and then I took Logan to daycare and went to the gym and then Michael and I went out for breakfast.

I got the special. It was a decadent treat and not something I’d normally order but since I knew I wouldn’t be eating lunch I figured, why not? It was a cheesecake french toast! I got the half order (which was the RIGHT amount) and it was topped with a tart cherry compote. The cheesecake filling to die for. Seriously good. And I also splurged and got the habanero peach mimosa! SPICY!

Then home and Michael started the brisket and I continued the sourdough process (and started the rosemary raisin sourdough I was making for Christmas dinner). My parents were driving down from Seattle to spend Christmas Eve with us. We decided to do a new tradition this year and host. It’s been harder trying to travel and fit everything in on one day with Logan.

My parent arrived after lunchtime (about the time I had the sourdough rising in the banneton basket and laying on the couch watching Die Hard. Then I we went to pick Logan up from daycare. Unfortunately, for some reason, he didn’t nap at daycare. I have no idea why (slightly annoyed by this) so of course he finally fell asleep at like 4:30.

Anyways. Our friends joined us this year for dinner. They brought a delicious kale and spinach salad and homemade fudge! My sourdough turned out fantastic!

And Michael’s brisket was great, too.

And he made his famous mac n’ cheese. It all went perfectly and everyone got seconds. There was still a lot of leftovers so people got to take some home with them.

I got some new holiday napkins at Target and some napkin rings (a black Friday splurge):

And Logan’s holiday placemat was a find from World Market:

Dinner turned out so nice. I was glad everyone was able to come and join us and help celebrate Christmas Eve. Even though hosting is kind a lot of work, it was still nice being able to immediately get in my PJs after everyone left. 🙂

The food turned out great!

Oh and my mom made chocolate brownies from scratch, topped with vanilla ice cream and homemade raspberry sauce. It was so decadent but good!

After dinner and dessert Logan got to open a few presents from our friends. Then bedtime!

Logan fell asleep almost immediately!