As part of a new Christmas experience for me, I joined Alex’s family in the San Diego area for the holidays. For his family, Christmas really starts on the 24th. We spent the day furiously cooking our Christmas Eve feast, creating the proper festive tablescape, and sharing funny stories and jokes (mostly about the hilariously lopsided eco-friendly Christmas tree that was chopped right from the backyard!).
Left: The Tablescape, Right: The Christmas Centerpiece
Once the sun began to set and the family started to arrive, it struck me what a lovely celebration we had before us.
With the food all ready and wine glasses in hand, we began to gather in the kitchen to start the feast. We prepared a bounty of food: a sweet honey baked ham, juicy maple glazed turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, spicy tamales, comforting green bean casserole, the famous family pasqualina (a spinach, cheese, and egg pie), and two types of cake.
Clockwise from top left: honey baked ham, pasqualina, rolls, tamales, chocolate spice cake, vanilla bundt cake, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes
The dinner was amazing. Not only was the family warm and inviting, but the food and wine were both excellent. The pasqualina (similar recipe found here) was definitely the most memorable dish of the night since Alex had been raving about it non-stop. It was buttery and flaky on the outside, but hearty and almost creamy on the inside. The best way for me to describe it would be to compare it to a spinach quiche in which the eggs were not mixed in, but placed around the quiche to bake whole.
As the night continued, we participated in a fun white elephant gift exchange (with everything from grandmas’s bean soup to a wine lover’s gift basket) and ended the night with some classic Christmas carols sung together. Singing carols and trading mystery gifts were new and exciting Christmas experiences for me, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Top: white elephant presents, Bottom: stockings
On Christmas morning, we awoke to the smell of sizzling bacon and the traditional dutch babies that are made every year by Alex’s stepfather, Gary. It was hard to empty our stockings and open our gifts with the smell of such a delicious breakfast, but we hurried through some of the unwrapping and made our way to the kitchen table.
Left to right: Kitchen Centerpiece, Dutch Baby (hot from the oven), and a plate of bacon and glass of mimosa
As we sat around the kitchen table in our pajamas, tired from last night’s feast and still beaming from our stocking stuffers, I took a moment to reflect on the Christmas festivities. There is definitely a special Christmas magic that surfaces year to year, and this one was no different. A joyous experience was undoubtedly shared by all and holiday cheer was aplenty.