The Holidays in Review – Part 2

After school got out the rest of the Holiday was full of mostly family and baking. My idea of a great time! Before Christmas my parents (and Oscar) came down from Oklahoma and Weston, Danielle, and her brother Marcel came down from Dallas. I was busy baking cookies, my usual Holiday gift to my family, as well as trying some new recipes like BBQ Scramble and my own version of Ranch flavored Oyster Crackers. (Look out for the recipe soon!)

On Christmas day we had a full house with the addition of my oldest brother’s family and friends Bob and Nancy.

Christmas morning a strong storm rolled through the area and just as we were about to put our standing rib roast in the oven our power went out! Luckily my parents house has a built in generator that powers most of the kitchen and the living room so we weren’t totally in the dark, but it does not power the oven. So, we moved over to plan B and in a combined effort Danielle, Marcel, and my dad got the grill up and running. Note that the poor thing hadn’t been used in a few years, so this was no easy feat, but on a happier note it is now nice and clean and ready to use so I might be grilling more often!

The roast turned out great and pretty much the rest of the meal I was able to be cooked on the stove, and in one of the two working outlets I plugged in my toaster over to bake rolls in small batches. Our lack of power made Christmas dinner a little more adventurous and may have started a new grilling tradition!

After dinner we ventured outside to get a group picture, but during the hour we had been inside eating the temperature seemed to have dropped at least ten degrees and chilly wind had developed. Can you tell we’re all a little cold?

Right after New Years my Uncle Bill and Ms. Betty came over for a visit too! It was great to see them, it had been too long. He brought us cream cheese filled donuts from a local shop in Lafayette and a big bag full of Satsumas from his backyard tree that were delicious. Just the picture of these donuts is making my mouth water.

I hope you had a chance spend time with the ones you love this past month. Purposing to spend more time with my friends and family is definitely one of my goals for the new year.

New Post over at A Sharper Focus Photography!

Check out pumpkin patch fun here!

Merry Christmas!

If you’ve been missing Christmas I’m here to fill that void just a little bit longer. We had a great Christmas day here in Houston. Both of my brothers and their families were in town. Plus friends of our family came over for a festive lunch. Some how my dad found a plethora of santa hats that got passed around that morning.

Weston and Danielle

I’m not quite sure what my parents were giggling at, but it must have been quite funny.

Ian and Paulina.

Even Oscar got in on the santa hat action, although I don’t really think he had much of a choice.

For Lunch we had our traditional standing rib roast along with more sides than we probably needed. Do you see the heaping mound of mashed potatoes in the background, yep and there was still even more on the stove. One day I’ll learn how to properly estimate how many potatoes to use.

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying a Happy New Year!