Christmas Morning: a first at our house!

C and I went to bed at a reasonable hour on Christmas eve, then proceeded to spend the rest of the night tossing and turning. Apparently our minds were so excited for Christmas to come that they ignored our exhausted bodies. There's nothing worse than insomnia. Laying in bed for hours, tired, but not sleeping...at about 3am I got up to let out the dogs and at 4am C suggested since we were still up that we walk them. I declined and figured rest was the next best option if I couldn't sleep. Finally, peace came and I managed to get a few hours of sleep. After laying in bed together for a while, wrapped in our puffy down comforter, with the sun peaking in through the window and Christmas morning upon us, we finally decided to get up. We both put on some comfortable lounge clothes, brushed our teeth, let the dogs out, and gave each other a long warm hug in the kitchen.

Christmas spirit had come in the night and sprinkled itself all over us and through the house. I plugged in the white Christmas tree lights and the twinkle lights around the window to add to the charm and flipped on the radio to a station that played non-stop Christmas music. 

Time to get brunch prepared. We took a look over our brunch to-do list to see what the timing was going to be on our dishes. Before cooking a larger meal for company, I like to make a prep list which includes a timing sheet. Basically, I read over all of the recipes to see how long they are going to take to finish, then working backwards from the time that I want to serve the meal, I figure out when everything needs to either be cooked, chilled, poured, or baked. This ensures that when company sits down to eat, everything is ready at its proper temperature at the same time.

Something that we needed to consider was that a number of our dishes needed to go into the oven: two quiches, a large pan of cinnamon buns, a large pan of potato chunks, and a loaf of bread which was a present for my brother and his girlfriend. The bacon needed to be cooked but that was something to do when people arrived so it would be hot to serve. Mulled wine needed to go on soon so that it had time to simmer and allow the flavours to steep together. Cream cheese icing could be made while everything else was baking. I had set the table the night before so that we wouldn't be worrying about that this morning as well. Aside from that, we just needed to put out condiments and make coffee.

First things first, the quiche. This would take the longest in the oven and was being baked around the same temperature as the bread. Quiche is pretty easy...eggs, milk or cream, and salt and pepper get combined and then poured over top of a pie shell filled with veggies and/or meat. Cheese can be mixed in or sprinkled on top. We had sauteed the veggies that night before and made the filling then as well. This morning, all we needed to do was add the filling to the shells and carefully pour the egg mixture on top. I am always careful to place quiche onto a baking sheet in case the egg mixture overflows during baking. The deep dish pies would go into the oven for 45-65 minutes, depending on how quickly the filling sets.

veggie quiches

 Since the quiches would take longest, we put them in with enough time to come out just before company was supposed to be arriving. The braided bread went in with the quiche on the bottom rack so that it would have time to cool and be wrapped with enough time. The bread only took about half the time as the quiche and it came out perfectly.

braided Challah

 While the oven looked after its dishes, I started on the mulled wine. I had never made this before and simply searched a recipe online to try. Red wine, sliced oranges and lemons, cloves, sugar, cinnamon sticks, cardamon, nutmeg, all went into a pot to simmer.

mulled wine

 With the bread out of the oven, there was a free rack for the potatoes now. Since there was about 25-35 minutes left on the quiche, the potatoes would be done shortly before them and the cinnamon buns could take their place (these rolls only take about 10 minutes in the oven). Timing timing timing. My parents showed up on time and we all shared hugs and put the presents that they brought under the tree. Since C is terrible at waiting for presents and had been harassing me for weeks and weeks on end about what he was getting for Christmas, I made sure that his loot was all safely locked away at my parent's place. With all of the extra presents, there was a landslide of goodies, overflowing from under the tree. Christmas music playing in the background, the kitchen warm from the oven, and hugs all around, it was indeed a good Christmas morning.

So, now was the time to finish everything up. C started making the cream cheese frosting and I offered drinks. My dad jumped in to help and he took over the turkey bacon while C looked after the pork version. The cinnamon buns, potatoes and quiche were done and went onto the table.

Veggie and cheese quiche and roasted potatoes

warm cinnamon buns, waiting for their cream cheese frosting

We were all ready for a nice hearty meal.

Turkey and pork bacon

 We all dug into the spread and aside from mmm's and ahhh's, there wasn't much other conversing for the first 5 minutes. Once we all tucked into our meal, we took some time to share news and stories and everyone seemed to be having a lovely time. I was so happy with how Christmas brunch had turned out and loved that everyone could make it to our place to share it with us. This was the first time that my brother had ever seen our house as well, so I was glad that he was able to come by.

Christmas morning 2011 brunch

 It wasn't just a first for my brother and his girlfriend to see our house, but it was a first for them to meet our new addition as well. With a Christmas tradition started by moi, every year Mrs B, and now Maggie, get a new Christmas sweater or shirt. Butters got a red and green stripped fun-fur lined tshirt that stated in sparkles "L'il Grinch" and Maggie received a lovely black and red ensemble from my mother-in-law. Doesn't she just look adorable? Apparently their revenge for the attire they were forced to endure was to produce the stinkiest smelliest fog possible. They added to the Christmas spirit by turning the air green with their puffs of putrid and kept us all laughing and holding our noses. With our holiday meal digesting and warm or festive drinks in our mugs, it was time to open presents together. My brother and I pulled out presents from the pile and passed them around so that everyone had something in front of them and we began unwrapping. C FINALLY opened the presents that he'd harassed me over incessantly and watching his reaction made it all worthwhile. He got his first pair of sparring gloves, two pairs of MMA training shorts, and a pair of hand pads. Those were on his most wanted list and he was happy as a clam and excited to get to class with his new toys. Other presents opened that day were multiple copies of Clean Eating, beautiful sweaters, sweater boots, an old-school phone receiver that plugs into a smart-phone, a sushi maker, fishing reel, coffee grinder, books, and many other thoughtful, useful, and fun goodies. Christmas morning was a huge success and once everyone made their way home after hugs and well-wishes, we cleaned all the dishes, put the kitchen back to its original state, and collapsed on the couch. With any luck, next year, we might be able to host Christmas dinner ;)