Christmas Recap

As I suspected, Christmas Eve was a late, late night. Pascal invited his friend Noel (Christmas birthday!) and Noel's family for dinner. They arrived around 8:00, having worked until 7:00 at their military surplus store (the 24th is always busy, I guess). Pascal made eggnog in the afternoon and that was their first time tasting it. Only 2 of the 4 liked it - not a surprise, since one either likes it or one doesn't.


After eggnog, we had appetizers: foie gras, Christmas market sausage with Ritz crackers, veggies and dip, etc. I found a dip recipe in Fannie Farmer that was easy and flavorful. Also, the leftovers made yummy salad dressing when thinned with a little milk :)

The next course was pumpkin soup with honey and cloves. It was also a new recipe and I made it earlier in the day so it was quick and easy to reheat. For the main course, Pascal prepared the leg of lamb and I did the side dishes of Boursin mashed potatoes and peas.


For dessert, we served white chocolate ice cream topped with Bailey's Irish Cream and a plate of homemade shortbread.


The French do not dine-and-dash. It was 1:30 when coats were gathered and 2:15 when Pascal and I collapsed into bed after a quick clean-up. We left the sleeping cat in the hallway and at 2:30, he was scratching at our door. I put him outside and was back in bed at 2:45. ZZZ.


Unfortunately, 9:30 a.m. came around pretty quickly!!! We opened stockings in bed, had breakfast (cranberry orange bread that I made the day before) and exchanged presents while watching Christmas Vacation, since time ran out the night before (we sent the DVD with them and watched our VHS version). Pascal finally called Maurice around noon and he was still asleep! He staggered over and we gave him his presents.


Maurice was tired so he went back to his place to nap and in addition to both of us being tired, Pascal felt a head/chest cold settling in. He made a fire and we settled down to watch this and this.


I had the ingredients to make ham and scalloped potatoes for dinner, but no one seemed to care so we had leftovers.


Yesterday, there was still leftover lamb and I turned the leftover potatoes into soup, which made an easy dinner when combined with salad and crusty bread.


Pascal nursed his cold yesterday in front of the fire again and we ploughed through 8 (!!!) episodes of 24, which just landed in our mailbox.