A Holly, Jolly Christmas

Christmas has come and gone but before we pack away all the decorations and take down the tree, I wanted to share some of the Brunmeier family holiday festivities.

When Boy # 4 was on his school break for Thanksgiving, I grasped the opportunity to force encourage all four of my guys to come over for the annual Christmas card photo shoot. We’ve done this every year since they were young but it gets more difficult to get them all together in one place, at one time as time progresses. Some of them have school, some have work, and all of  us have the other assorted obligations of our busy lives. But, we managed to pull it together on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, a day before Adam headed back to Santa Barbara to finish out his 1st quarter of school.

I lured them over with the promise of lunch – chicken, pesto, goat cheese sandwiches with oven baked fries, to be exact.

One of these days I’ll get around to taking pretty pictures of this delicious recipe and sharing it with you all.

This is the look I get when I’ve taken one too many pictures. It’s the Boy #3  “Cut it out, Mom” punky face.

Aaahh, but we’ve only just begun!

Here they are all lined up in our front yard. It started off nice and orderly. From left to right, Adam (Boy #4), Jake (Boy #2), Ryan (Boy #1), and Connor (Boy #3).

Then things got a little, well, let’s just say the neighbors might think we’re a bit strange.

I feel a strange sense of power on Christmas card photo day. Hmm, what can I make them do next?

Yeah, the neighbors think we’re nuts. Peek-a-boo!

Come on guys, hold it together. This is serious business.

The following weekend it was time to go cut down our great big 12-footer. This was the first year that Paul and I went on the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree without the boys and it was quite the task to lug this thing in and set it up without them.

Success!

And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care…

Christmas Eve was fun and festive and the food was delicious. After a day of cooking, I relaxed, drank some wine, and fully enjoyed myself. I didn’t even touch my camera that night but here’s a recap of the meal. I roasted a great big boneless prime rib from Costco with a simple rub of olive oil, herbes de provence, salt and fresh ground pepper and served it with a creamy horseradish sauce. On the side we had scalloped potatoes and some insanely delicious bourbon glazed carrots – a take on Pioneer Woman’s recipe that I absolutely need to share with you soon. They are to die for!

On Christmas morning we had a buffet style brunch with my Overnight Cinnamon Rolls, a quiche with caramelized onions, mushrooms, bacon, Swiss, and cheddar cheese (yum!), breakfast sausage, and Greek yogurt with fresh berries, granola, and honey. I somehow managed to skip the cinnamon rolls and go for the yogurt and berries. Occasionally I have self-control…occasionally.

Time for gifts!

No one is more excited to rip open the presents than the pups. Bruno is pretty pleased with his new Star Wars toy.

Bridget was not too sure about her pretty new Christmas sweater from Boy #2’s girlfriend but has decided it suits her. She’s a sweater vest kind of girl.

After opening gifts we headed out to the movies to see Night at the Museum (cute movie!). To make life easy I got my Shredded Mexican Beef in the oven to cook low and slow while we were gone. It’s our tradition to do a casual, fun dinner on Christmas night and what is more casual and fun than Mexican food? I whipped up some corn salsa, rice, black beans, avocado, and shredded cheese – and we had super tasty shredded beef burrito bowls for dinner when we got home from the movies. Easy and super yum!

My dad and step-mom joined all of us for dinner on Christmas night and as you can see Bridget pretty much stuck to them like glue the entire night.

I hope that you all had a wonderfully festive and relaxing holiday. I want to thank you for your continued support, wonderful comments, and engagement with me here on the blog and on social media. I look forward to continuing to share delicious food, the crazy shenanigans of our household, and lots of fun giveaways as we head into 2015.

Here’s to a happy, healthy, and delicious new year!