Christmas Eve Recap

Both Jen and I unfortunately had to work yesterday, but mercifully we both finished up our work in the early afternoon. I picked up Callum from day care where Donna & Alice (the daycare ladies) had baked us a coffee cake and also had a wrapped present for Callum and also one for Callum to give to Jen and I.

It was forecast to rain during the afternoon and it looked threatening, but we really got very little rain until well into the night.

We walked across the road to the Stadium Brewing Company and had an early dinner. Callum wore his new Christmas outfit to dinner and as a result was the center of attention, which he took full advantage of. Oddly, we didn't actually take any photos (I know you are shocked). The restaurant brought out chocolate covered strawberries as a bonus for eating there on Christmas Eve and we ended the meal with a "festive" shot that the bartender decided looked Christmassy (I think there was Baileys invovled).

When we came home, we did take (just) a couple of photos. This is Callum pretending to be a newly arrived package.




After Callum went to bed, we made Egg Nog and cookies. The Egg Nog was from a recipe we found on the internet. Based on the amount of bourbon and brandy in it, we renamed it "Booze Nog". The taste test was positive, that recipe is a keeper. We have decided that making Egg Nog from scratch will be one of Christmas Eve traditions going forward . The cookies were "Apricot Chocolate Chip", which apparently is an odd combination for some people to get their head around, but it seemed like a good idea to me. Those also turned out well.



With some time up our sleeves, we got a head start on Christmas lunch by mostly preparing the soup and the crust for the tart as well.

One other tradition that Jen and I have decided to adopt from my early childhood is the leaving of food out on Christmas Eve for Father Christmas/Santa Claus and maybe even the reindeer. Now, until recently I never figured out the rouse that my parents (mostly my Dad) had perpetrated on my sister and I on Christmas Eve. Most families leave out cookies and milk. In my family we left out beer, cheese and crackers!! So once we went off to bed, my Dad had an "obligation" to drink beer, and eat cheese and crackers. Genius!

So last night we left out for Santa Claus a baked round of Brie that had Cranberries, Apricots, Almonds and Brandy on top of it. We also left out 2 bottles of specially selected beer. The first beer was the 2008 Gift of The Magi Ale from The Lost Abbey Brewing Co. (you will recall we visited them a little while ago). The second bottle was a La Fin Du Monde from Unibroue. We believe Santa had a really good night.


The Gift of the Magi Ale is a special Christmas beer that they have made for the first time this year, they apparently intend to make a special Christmas beer each year going forward. From the label on the back of the beer "And so the Three Wise Men set out from the East bearing gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. Along the way, they followed a bright light. The Bible neglects to mention if they brought beer or not. Who goes crossing the desert without beer? How smart are we to believe these wise men were?"

After all the cooking was done, all that was left to do was to drink some more and wrap some last minute presents.