christmas time

What with the baking queen in town and all, I did not attempt my usual holiday baking. (First christmas with a kid, and I played that card for all it was worth.) With a nod to reality, I planned on falling off the no-sweets wagon for the period between my birthday and new years. I'm sorry, but if your mom comes to your house and plays with your baby and bakes you cookies, it is seriously bad karma not to eat at least one cookie.

Stella and her healthy fear of The Man.

Speaking of cookies, we had a cookie party on Christmas Eve. One of the best things about spending our first Christmas at home was coming up with new traditions. This one was a keeper. Let's see... my mom made all the cookies and icing, and my sister's in-laws brought dinner... I'd have to say it was the best party ever that doesn't involve grinding your own sausage. I'm thinking a potluck cookie decorating party will have to be expanded on in the future. I especially loved the part where everyone but me cooked. We kept things pretty small and low key this year on account of my new nephew Gabriel. Here are some of our favorites:

Best booty-loving cookie: Best self-portrait cookie (Stephen):

Best traditional cookie:

Best alternate use of the shape:
Best minimalist cookie (this one narrowly beat out my mom's classic one-shake-of-red-sprinkles):

and honorable mention because it's christmas in the Federation, too:

Christmas morning it was just the three of us, I made cinnamon rolls from scratch and we chillaxed. Opened stockings and got on Skype. All three of us got spoiled. Here's Stephen's new grill, complete with baby back ribs, ha.

In the afternoon my parents, Becca, Chris and baby Gabe came over. We opened presents and finished up dinner, which I had been planning ever since Becca announced her due date and I realized we would get to be home. Somehow the planets aligned, and even though getting to dinner took much longer than we thought, everything turned out perfectly. I don't know how. And now I shall bore you with the menu, what can I say I am very proud. We did a prime rib with port sauce (snaps to Jenny for the recipe!), savory sweet and regular potatoes, green beans, rolls from scratch, and a spinach-blue cheese and pecan salad. In the evening we invited the rest of the family over for dessert. One of these days I will get it into my head that when people have a big dinner (like xmas and thanksgiving) they just don't really eat much dessert. I still have pie in the fridge, it will just have to be thrown out due to age and sugar avoidance. We had a good time, it was a truly bizarre experience to not have to rush off to another celebration. Oh and I got called out (gotta love family) for what I thought was a good response to an unusual gift. ("Oh! I don't have anything like THIS!")

Overall, it was a great holiday. Loved the combo of not cooking, cooking and not having to go anywhere. Can't wait to try out my new bike trailer - I think Stella will like cycling.