Christmas Eve

My family is of German and Austrian descent and as a result our Christmas follows those traditions.  The key one is that our big celebration is held on Christmas Eve, not Christmas day and like anything to do with my family, it is centered around food.  Around a feast to be precise.

The photos never do the spread justice.  So to give you an idea of just how crazy it is, here is a list of what the 6 of us ate:

• Potato Salad
• Spinach Salad
• Pumpkin and Eggplant Salad
• Roasted Capsicum Salad
• Tomato and Boconcini Salad
• Cucumber Salad
• Coleslaw
• Asparagus
• Seafood - prawns, oysters, smoked salmon
• BBQ chicken
• Ham
• Cabanossi
• Procutto with melon
• Eggs - plain hard boiled and deviled
• Homemade Pate
• Cheese - brie and chedder
• Two types of bread

 

That is right, 6 of us ate that - and a pav for dessert!  There were plenty of leftovers which Mum and Dad happily took possession of and will feed them for a week.

Everything was washed down by an excellent bottles of champagne, white wine and red wine.  As a result things did get a bit silly at some points, my sister modelling the new fashion for Christmas hats is an excellent example.

As per tradition after the main meal we went for a walk.  When my sister and I were small the walk was to look for Santa.  We would hunt up and down the street, checking the sky for a red light that would be the telltale sign of Rudolph's nose, until eventually we would see the curtains of our house open and the candles lit, the sign that Santa had somehow snuck past us to deliver our presents.  These days the walk serves the important purpose of allowing us to digest the vast quantities of food we have just eaten before we get stuck into dessert.

It was a gorgeous night.  After the feast of food there was a crazy number of presents.  My sister's little dogs were even in the swing of things with their tinsel collar accessories.

And of course seeing that we do all of this on Christmas Eve that leaves Christmas day for my sister and I to head to our partner's families to partake of the English traditions.  We really do get the best of both worlds.

I hope your Christmas was as special as mine.