festive table

if i can i always like to host christmas eve. this sometimes is a hard sell on the rest of the family.  steph likes to do her tradition of cashew chicken, mom always likes everyone under the same roof on christmas eve, if dinner isn’t at her place i think she fears this might not happen, and of course its hard for dad not to cook up his own meal.  then of course there is trying to come up with a menu that will suit everyone.  this year i created a baked potato bar for the fam. i actually got the idea from work.  the kids used to love baked potato bar and i figured that’d give a wide range of options for everyone’s taste buds.

waiting for dinner

what is a baked potato bar? baked potatoes and lots of toppings; broccoli, cheese, sour cream, dill dip, green onions, bacon bits, along with a big ol’crock pot of beans and sausage! i seasoned the potatoes with olive oil and sea salt. good thing steph showed up early to help. this turned a little messy doing five potatoes that way.  i’m used to just my one baked potato prep mess. i also decided to do up a big crock pot of beans and sausage.  i knew dad would want some sort of official meat and ever since i saw the english put baked beans on potatoes i’ve been a bit sold on that practice.

toppings

mmm good

my plate!

after the main course the fam has a tradition of playing the christmas game. kind of like monopoly but with reindeer, Scrooge and getting stuck at places called gift wrap. dad of course always starts complaining how he doesn’t like the game when he gets stuck at traffic jam, roll 7 or doubles to get out!!  while we played we nibbled on yummy holiday cookies.  this was the easiest dessert every.  leftover cookies from my holiday cookie party frozen and then thawed out for christmas eve….thanks friends for baking my dessert!!!