Holiday Round-up

Happy holidays! While we’ve prepared for the holidays for weeks now, I’m still not quite ready. Fortunately the shopping is done. Now we just have cooking/baking, cleaning up and wrapping to do. No worries though, it will all get done. It always does. For as long as the to do lists get this time of year, it never seems to stress me. I love the holidays. I love the traditions, the memory making, the family celebrations, the laughter and the love. And we’re already off to a good start. old school xmas tree

Last night was the first of our four celebrations, our traditional Christmas at my mom and dad’s. Would you be surprised that there was enough food to feed the whole neighborhood? It makes it hard to believe I have to cook more food! I’m having a hard time even thinking about it, I’m still so full. Here’s a few of the gems that adorned yesterday’s holiday table:
Cranberry Bruschetta
Cranberry Bruschetta

Spicy Maple Walnuts
Spicy Maple Walnuts

An Uzbek treat that seems to have become a regular at the holidays now, Sugar-Coated Almonds.
sugar-coated almonds

And of course Christmas isn’t complete without mom’s Oatmeal Cookies.
Mom's Oatmeal Cookies

As for tomorrow night, it’s our special Christmas Eve dinner. Mike, Mr. N, Miss A and I will all sit down for an intimate dinner, we’ll open some presents (the kids usually exchange with each other on Christmas Eve), we’ll put on our new Christmas jammies, grab some cookies and milk and pile into the car for a Christmas lights drive before tucking the kids into their warm beds to await Santa’s arrival. It’s my favorite night of the season. xmas eve

On tomorrow evening’s menu is a special family recipe, but not one of our own. We’re making the Bartolini Lasagna. You can’t go wrong with a dish from Chicago John and his clan. In fact last year, Chicago John’s Spaghetti alla Carbonara was the star of Christmas Eve dinner. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the Bartolini recipes are becoming a Christmas tradition of their own.

Then it’s Christmas Day and the children will be up bright and early (At least not as early as my sister and I used to arise – sorry mom and dad!). We’ll spend the morning opening the goodies from Santa, lounging about in our jammies and listening to Christmas music. We’ve got hot cocoa and mimosas lined up to go and we’ll be serving them along with a batch of one of our most popular recipes from the past several years, the Maple Bacon Biscuits
maple bacon biscuits from Vermont

The family will pop in after 1 p.m. and we’ll serve hot breakfast dishes all day long. The kids will likely still be in their jammies, unless we head out to sled, and we’ll have a slow, lazy day with our loved ones. sledding

But wait, there’s one more! This treat from Egypt has also become a staple at our holiday meals and we’ll be making this for the big day as well. Next to the oatmeal cookies, it’s one of Mike’s favorite desserts, the Egyptian Baklawa. I can smell the orange blossom water already. Mmmm!
Baklawa

Needless to say, we’ll be good and full come Wednesday night.

We wish you all a wonderful holiday, a Merry Christmas and an amazing New Year. Thank you all for following us here at Eat, Play, Love. We’ll be sharing a warming, healthy soup for the New Year and then launch back into cooking around the world. Until then, may you all enjoy peace, love, happiness and health throughout the season and the New Year. Happy holidays! Mike, Kristy, Mr. N and Miss A

31 thoughts on “Holiday Round-up”

  1. Pingback: Happy Holidays! | Eat, Play, Love
  2. Nami | Just One Cookbook says:
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    I’m a little bit too late to for the holiday, but want to say Happy New Year to you and your family! Hope you had a good holiday. I’ll check your Egyptian Baklawa – looks so good! It’s wonderful to see international meals and treats served in your house!

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  4. Pingback: Notes in the Middle of the Day | Pure Complex
  6. Bam's Kitchen says:
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    Happy Belated Christmas and wishing you and your family a super 2014! I love your romantic photos of course all the delicious food but also the beautiful tree and the kids sledding. It’s all the things that reminds me of a traditional Christmas and even the cookies for Santa. I bet it is so fun on Christmas mornings with your little ones. What time did they wake up to see if Santa visited? Wishing you the best. Take Care, BAM

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  7. Charles says:
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    Hi Kristy, sorry I didn’t check in until now. Busy times, busy times! I hope you all had a wonderful time. Your description of the day sounds lovely… so cosy. Good food and good company – that’s what it should all be about :). I hope Santa brought some nice things for everyone :).

    By the way, I think your banner image broke again – it’s all black for me right now!

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    • Kristy says:
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      Thank you Charles! All fixed. 🙂

      And no need to ever apologize for being busy. Believe me – I understand! I hope you all had a very wonderful Christmas and New Year’s. Many hugs to you.

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  10. Kelly @ Inspired Edibles says:
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    I love your little Christmas tree — it’s so cheerful and bright, I think it would make me smile every time I looked at it. I hope you are enjoying all of the precious moments, giggles and memories that the holiday holds in store for your beautiful family Kristy. I am thinking of all of you. Miss you — xo.

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  12. Eva Taylor says:
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    Your round up sounds festive and delicious Kristy, it’s so lovely that your making traditions with some blogged recipes! The baklava particularly caught my eye, it looks wonderful. It looks like you had a good snowfall too, as we have too. I hope you didn’t get hit with the ice storm a few days before Xmas, it was brutal, there are some 100,000 homes still without power. In fact, a neighbourhood close to ours lost power 6 days ago and when they called hydro they were told they had 3 transformers blown and that it would take too long to fix, that their workers time is best spent elsewhere! Can you believe it? We have a friend in the east end still without power! Another friend’s sister had her water pipes burst! It’s just been awful. We were very lucky, we got power back in just over a day! Best Christmas present ever!
    Merry Christmas to you and the family, thanks for the photo card, the kids are adorable! Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2014!

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  15. ChgoJohn says:
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    All I can say is “Fantastic!” You sure have a fund couple of days ahead, just as it should be. I think it wonderful how dishes resulting from your virtual travels have been incorporated into your holiday festivities. I bet you never thought that would happen! Thank you for your kind words and for selecting our lasagna as part of your feast. It is such an honor to be included in your Christmas Eve feast.
    I hope this Christmas treats your family to memories that will last a lifetime. 🙂

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  20. hotlyspiced says:
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    What a beautiful post, Kristy. I loved reading about how your family will be celebrating Christmas. And your tree with the stockings hung by the fireplace is such a pretty scene. Best wishes to you and all your family for the best Christmas ever xx

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  22. Margaret R. Urrutia says:
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    Blessing’s Holidays for all of you! You did a great job in this year, giving us great recipes for all the year! And the recipes for x-mas were wonderful! I hope you soon have everything done for you and your family!

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  24. spicegirlfla says:
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    Hi Kristy, What a wonderful holiday you have planned! As always, I say I so miss when my kids were little. Everything was magical! And, like you, it never stressed me out as I loved every moment of all the planning and preparing! I wish you and your family a blessed Christmas full of love and happiness!!

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    • Kristy says:
      Reply

      Thank you Linda! I hope that you have a wonderful holiday as well. It is definitely a magical time – I’m soaking up every single second of it with the kids. I have no doubt you still do the same now. 🙂 Merry Christmas!

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