I know it’s four days past Christmas, but I’ve taken a little holiday away from the blog to spend time with family and friends. Now that they’re back home, I can blog my Christmas shenanigans. I like to break up the posts so they are not overwhelming. Today, I’ll start with Christmas dinner.
Not only did we have a great Christmas Eve dinner, a Christmas Day breakfast; but we had a Christmas day dinner. I don’t know how Ralph does it, but he perfected so many recipes and filled us all up.
After breakfast and opening up each other’s presents, Nick, Dom (nicks little brother) and I played basketball for several hours. I don’t think I could spend another Christmas repetitively watching the Christmas Story. Plus, it was sixty-five degrees out and I wanted to take advantage of it.
While we played basketball, Ralph and Phyllis cooked dinner. My parents headed over around two.
My dad brought his computer over and we all got to Skype my brother. It was kind of cool introducing Nick’s parents to my brother, even if it was on Skype. I can’t wait for next year. He was really missed. If you look in the corner of the Skype window, you’ll see Grumps. He had his turn at talking to Uncle T.C.
Ralph went above and beyond with a pork roast. The balsamic flavor was outstanding.
They also made “Stuffed Macaroni”. It was sausage stuffed inside a rigatoni noodle with Ralph’s homemade pasta sauce.
And my favorite, Phyllis’s salad & homemade Italian dressing!
Dinner rolls are necessary at dinner. How else would you be able to wipe up every leftover juice on the plate? I guess you could do it Grumples style, but that’s kind of gross.
We all sat down for dinner around three!
Phyllis made her homemade lasagna and this is literally the best tasting lasagna I’ve ever had. She makes her noodles homemade for goodness sake! It doesn’t get better than that!
Nick’s mom set up the table so classy. Gold chasers and a red table cloth. It was starting to real feel like Christmas.
This was the best Christmas dinner I’ve ever had. We usually just have mom’s lasagna and garlic bread.
This year I had roasted pork loin, lasagna, cheesy potatoes, twice backed potatoes, salad, dinner rolls, glazed carrots and ham. That’s called being spoiled.
This is one of my favorite shots. They were all waiting for me to put the camera down so we could say prayers and eat. But everyone was so pretty and I just wanted to keep snapping photos.
One of my favorite side dishes was the twice baked potatoes. I loved the chive flavors and the fact that he used a red potato instead of the usual russet potatoes. The skin is actually my favorite part of the potato and red potato skins taste better than all the other potatoes.
It’s safe to say I put on a good pound after Christmas dinner and I’d do it all over again.
After dinner, we had desserts and then we went out to play more basketball. This time, my dad joined. Nick and I played against my dad and Dom. We kicked their butts. My mom went on a walk with Nick’s mom and took the dogs with them. We ended Christmas night at the movie theater. We went to see the Gambler and it was pretty good. Most of the movies were sold out and no one wanted to go see Annie…but me 😉 I’ll put it on my list of things to do this week.
What are your Christmas Day traditions?
I NEED that lasagna recipe!! Mine turned out so badly on xmas!
It’s strange to see lasagna being eaten for Christmas dinner (despite it looking so tasty!) as here in England we have roast dinner – turkey, roasted veg and potatoes, stuffing etc. Still looks delicious though! Happy New Year 😀
lol that is our Thanksgiving food here!:)
Yum on the lasagne! We do christmas breakfast at my parents house. We had homemade latkes, cinnamon applesauce, baked challa bread blueberry french toast, and chorizo and egg soufflé. Sounds like my mom and Ralph need to get together and cook 😉 ! Later in the day we went to my husbands parents and had more of a traditional Christmas dinner. Then my family met back up at a close family friends and had dessert- custard pie, tiramisu, strawberry rhubarb pie, and pumpkin pie. Spoiled indeed.
It all looks so delicious! Will you post a recipe for the twice baked potato or the peanut brittle in that last picture?!
I think I gained a pound or two just by looking at all the food lol nom nom yum yum OMG!!!!
In Australia we always do a big seafood lunch for Christmas too bad for me I’m allergic 🙁 but I usually make up for it by over indulging on Christmas fruit cake and pavlova (meringue with fresh fruit and cream). I spent the morning with my horses, got up early to go for a trail ride and spoil them with treats and toys. Then did some baking with my brother and fell asleep after lunch 🙂
I’ll go see Annie with you!
All this food looks SO good!! What does T.C. stand for? I’ve always wondered! Thomas Christian? Timothy Christopher? Total Cutie? Okay, but really!! 🙂
Sounds like you had a fantastic meal!
I love that Ralph and Phylis make everything home made. That is super impressive and a TON of work. They must really love to cook!
My Christmas dinner was great this year too! It always is, but my grandaddy’s cooking was even more perfect, for whatever reason. We always do the traditional turkey, ham, stuffing, mixed veggies and cranberry sauce for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Considering stuffing is one of my favorite foods, you won’t hear me complaining! haha.
And sad day! I’m the only one in my house who wants to see Annie too! Boooo! 😉
That all looks so amazing!! Every time you do a Ralph post it makes me want to drive down there for dinner 🙂
WOW that roast looks incredible. Sounds like a great Christmas, I bet next year you will be more in the Christmas spirit with your brother home 🙂
That looks incredible. Is Joe single?
I want to be living in Ralph’s house.