Dec 25 2014
Christmas Eve has been our time to have our Christmas party. Last night we had it with part of our family, our son his wife and the grandson. My oldest daughter and husband were here on Nov 15th for her birthday; then our daughter from Chicago was here for Thanksgiving. When families grow you can’t always all get together at one time. At Christmas time it is nice to have some family to celebrate with.
Recovering from back surgery I was not able to cook a big meal like usual. I did manage to make it out to my smoker and do up some smoked pistachios for a snack. Our daughter in law had to work but said she would do some Crockpot Lasagna. I had some Boursin cheese on hand and with marinara sauce made an easy dip for an appetizer, some Romaine lettuce mix and baby spinach for a salad and some garlic knots to bake. We had plenty of snacks and my wife baked some almond crescents for after dinner.
Like every year my wife has to fix a too large veggie tray with dip; and then after the meal puts about 80% to 90% back in the fridge!
For an extra treat I had a bottle of Amarula from our friend Ahron, (africanmeat), he brought when he visited us the past summer. I had saved it for a special time. Amarula is a sweet cream liqueur from Africa and is made from the fruit of the Amarula Tree. For years we have had white Russians after our Christmas meal. It is 1 oz. of Kahlua and 1 to 2 oz. of vodka over ice in an old fashioned glass topped with half and half cream. My wife does not have the vodka in hers.
Looking up drink recipes for using Amarula I found one that was a white Russian and you just added 1 oz. of Amarula. This makes a delicious drink. Be careful though even though it tastes pretty tame they will catch up to you pretty fast; especially if you are doing the 2 oz. of vodka. I’ll call it a White Elephant Russian; the Amarula has an elephant on the label.
We had a great meal together, served buffet style get your own! We had a drink after dinner and then took turns opening our presents. My wife and I didn’t get each other anything; the past few years we just pick out something and buy our own before Christmas. The grandson is 10 now and wanted mostly money so he didn’t have much to open. With the marvels of the internet he had $20 of his money spent before the night was over!
After two of the White Elephant Russians and some visiting; Ole Grampa was ready for bed at 8:30. When I got up at 11:30 for my usual middle of the night rising the kids were just getting ready to leave.
They still had to go to her parents for Christmas today. My wife’s sister and husband are stopping in this evening and bringing broasted chicken dinners.
Whisper: I think Ole Smokin Don just had his first all vegetarian Christmas meal! The daughter in law’s lasagna was good, tasted delicious!!
Cheers to all and Thanks Ahron for a great Christmas drink!
Snacks
Make your own salad
Ready to eat
My plate
For an after dinner drink
Merry Christmas from us
Smokin Don
