If you haven’t figured, Happ Home is where I live with T and Max. And we celebrated Christmas in advance here because we are flying off to New York for actual Christmas with T’s family. Also we had some of my family visiting with us too! It was supposed to be a small affair like it was last year with my mum and sisters – 5 of us. But we had the great fortune to have my uncle Gable’s family share this occasion with us while they holidayed stateside!
When we found out earlier in the week that my uncle and his family might visit, I got all excited. My sister Rachel, who arrived more than a week ago, got to start the work with me! We planned the Christmas menu, shopped for food and GIFTS! I think that’s my favourite part. It’s not easy buying suitable gifts for everyone but when you manage to get a good one that people appreciate, it’s so much more fun! I’m glad I live close to lots of good shops!
For the actual dinner, food prep began on Friday afternoon. I made a KFC-style coleslaw, baked a chocolate bundt cake and some thumbprint cookies. It came in very handy when I discovered that my husband bought me a really fancy KitchenAid Professional series stand mixer! Wheeee!
On Saturday morning itself, we glazed the cake and filled the thumbprint cookies with homemade fudge. Then in the afternoon, everyone pitched in to help with the rest.
I would like to take credit for all the food but it wasn’t me at all. We made most of the food from scratch except for the bone-in glazed ham, shrimp cocktail and the delicious Gardein vegan roast.
I think the meal was made so much more enjoyable being shared with family – the conversations and the laughter. It was the very first time Happ Home had so many guests all at once and I loved every minute!
Then to round off the night, we adjourned downstairs for a 2nd round of laughs with a very hilarious Christmas gift exchange. Our cousins Shawn, Scott and Sarah, as well as uncle Gable and Aunty Jenny had 2 gifts each as well! It wouldn’t be as fun if all our guests weren’t participating!
And that was the second ever Christmas dinner hosted at Happ Home, done and dusted.
How was yours?
An Exercise In Trivial Pursuits 