Cherishing This Christmas

What an incredible time this Christmas holiday is, especially for me because I have the people I love around me, creating new wonderful memories...and of course incredible food.

Christmas morning was all about the children running to the tree, excitement on their faces...pure joy for all things material...lol. Of course we as parents do our best to help our children understand that Christmas is not about the material, yet we continue to fork out the bucks to get that particular doll that seems to be all the rage this week, just because our child(ren) want it and because we want to make them happy.

And the food...

I started out the day with a mid-morning brunch of honey-maple ham steaks, omega eggs over-easy, sliced tomatoes with pepper and croissants. Lest we forget...the amazing Bavarian coffee I brewed fresh and the fruit-yogurt smoothies.

It truly was hard to believe that only a mere six hours later we would again be sitting down to the likes of sweet scalloped potatoes baked in a cream/butter sauce with savoury sweet spices, roasted baby potatoes in a garlic/rosemary olive oil coating; toasted brown and almost crunchy in texture; steamed assorted veggies in a pepper/butter sauce; stuffing made from scratch with sauted onions and celery along with pleasing to the taste-buds herbs and seasonings; the turkey...a young, fresh turkey, basted with butter and mesquite seasonings...roasted on the BBQ. The meat literally fell off the bones. And let's not forget the most substantial portion of the meal...the salad. I find when we eat the leafy green salad last, it helps to digest all that wonderfully horrible food we consumed in record time. All that wine and beer...egg nog and rum.

We ended with hot apple crumble pie and double churned french vanilla ice cream, and of course coffee.

And so the kids are all scattered through the house, playing with this toy and that toy. I'm holed up in my office, hot coffee beside me and I just felt the desire to share my wonderful Christmas with you.

I love this time of year...families come together from near and far...a time for reflection of what was and what is...what can be...all the possibilities...all the accomplishments...the hardships and the rewards. Truly appreciating what you have in your life and unconditionally loving those people you hold closest and dearest to your heart. Hold onto these moments...they may not come again.

Merry Christmas! And happy cooking.