The G Family Christmas

What a lovely Christmas we had!

It was a busy one, and oh, please remind me to not start any new decorating projects right before a party. Last time we did some rework to the family den before Raffy's 1st birthday party, which is still not 100% complete, so when it is, I would be more then happy to share.

We hosted a holiday open house, and I decided to redecorate, of course, but I'll have to share in a different post the new look of the living and dining room. Back to the open house, it was exactly how we envisioned it to be, friends and family rolled in and out throughout the day, and at the end of the day we weren't pooped like with other types of parties we've thrown. So open houses are the way to go for the holidays. We decided to go with a Mexican theme for the food at least, the other elements were just the usual Christmas look. Steve had wanted to try making mole, it took him only 5 hours, and a million ingredients, but it was definitely worth it and totally delicious. We had ordered some tamales from a local restaurant and empanadas from El Gaucho Meat Market (not Mexican, but Argentinian, it's still Latin, so does that count?). I also made albondigas 2-ways (Mexican meatballs), a burnt chipotle and a regular tomato one. So good! Oh we also had some margaritas too.



We celebrated Christmas Eve at Steve's Grandma's house, where I showcased my Buche de Noel cake. Or Stump de Noel according to the Baked cookbook authors (which, by the way I scored for Christmas from the hubby). However, this recipe was taken from Food and Wine magazine. I thought it would be so complicated, but after I read through the recipe several times, had everything set up, it wasn't hard at all. The fun part was decorating to make it look like a tree stump.

garnished with meringue mushrooms, candied cranberries and rosemary, and chocolate splinters

Christmas day will definitely be one for the books. We had prepped Raffy for Christmas all month long, reading her a Frosty the Snowman book over and over (at her request), which she sings it so well, "oh e osty", is how is she says it. I'll need to post the video of her singing that song sometime. So funny! We also read to her a baby Jesus book, (which she says "babii shshes") we're both not super religious people, but thought it was important for her to understand what Christmas was really about. Other books we read as well were Olivia helps with Christmas (this one is a great book), a Rudolph soft book, and The Night Before Christmas (good book too, but I think this is where she learned to pick her nose, there is a part in there where Santa touches his nose, and up the chimney he went, oy vey).

Don't you wish everyday was like Christmas morning? Raffy opening all her presents, not fully understanding everything, but still completely enthralled and excited about it all. I got several cookbooks, Ad Hoc at Home was on my wish list and the hub delivered. Thanks honey!

The Kangaroo Climber from the Grandparents

btw, notice that there are no ornaments on the lower half of the tree, Raffy kept pulling them off

And the sad part was having to take it all down. Good bye tree, and stockings, good bye Raffy's 1st Christmas ornament and her new one for 09, makes me teary eyed. Just means that she'll be one year older next Christmas =(