Christmas Eve dinner

Since we spent Thanksgiving in Mombasa this year, we decided to celebrate Christmas with a traditional turkey dinner.  We ordered an outrageously large bird, brined it and roasted it with stuffing on Christmas Eve  morning.  I always make traditional sides to go with the meal.  We had mashed potatoes and pan gravy, sweet potato caserole, roasted cauliflower with procuitto, creamed spinach, and apple/walnut/cranberry stuffing.

My favorite moments of the day were

• Uncorking a bottle of wine to share with my sister
• Laying the roasted bird out on the table and hearing Addie exclaim "Now the turkey's REALLY dead!".  
• Spooning Addie's fourth helping of turkey on her plate for dinner as she said "I. Just. Cannot. Stop. Eating. Turkey."  Full drama of course.  
• Seeing my girls in their matching Christmas Eve PJs
• Sipping hot buttered rum and gazing at the tree after the girls were fast asleep 

Before bed we ran outside to write a welcome note for Santa on our front gate.  We didn't want Santa to miss our house!