The Holidays are Here

I mentioned earlier how much I love Christmas, and with Thanksgiving over, I wish I was sharing the first holiday baking post I had planned for some peppermint bark short bread and other goodies I made for my extended family's annual Christmas party/family reunion after Thanksgiving. Somehow though, in the mad rush between class Wednesday, Thanksgiving Thursday, Black Friday followed immediately by travel to visit family in Pennsylvania and Maryland, I forgot to take a picture. And of course, its the end of the quarter, so chance are Daniel will be carrying the blog for the next week. 

With the mad rush of the weekend past, I thought I would use my (late) post as a chance to reflect about the wonderful, carb-loaded meal we shared at Thanksgiving and the special time we get to spend and memories to share with our families and each other. I'm not gong to give the recipes for the dishes, although if you have a special request for something I'd be happy to type it up for you (once my final papers are typed and done ;)). 

Enjoy the pictures and the Christmas and Holiday Season!!!

The Dinner

The turkey, prepared by my parents. I'm not sure why I couldn't get a good picture, it just seems wrong to take a picture of its missing head or its backside...

  A Yellow Squash casserole, traditional holiday fare in my family's home.  I don't think I can remember a Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter dinner in which my mom didn't prepare this for us. 

   

Cornbread stuffing. The best way to describe dressing, is the essence of the holidays for me at least. With the onions, celery and tons of sage, it makes the house smell like the holidays. The leftovers don't last too long in our house either. (That's Daniel's legs in the background too :))

   Green bean casserole, because it's just not the holidays without it, or more precisely without nibbling some of the crispy french onions while everything else and everyone proceeds to the table.

 

A homemade cranberry sauce prepared by Daniel & I the night before. For my first attempt, it turned out pretty well although I'll have to play with the flavors more in the future.

  Potatoes roasted with sage and topped with bacon crumbles. A welcome new addition to our Thaknsgiving table this year, and most likely a new staple as well. 

     

 Sweet potato yeast rolls with cinnamon brown butter that I made in lieu of the yeast rolls I made last year. I should probably ask the family which they prefer, but I liked the unique color of these and the little bits of sweet potato.

 

Fruit salad prepared by mom and marinated the night before. Before serving, the grape, orange, mixed fruit, pecan, and coconut concoction are topped with fresh sliced banana.

The Desserts

 

An egg custard pie Daniel made using a recipe from his great-grandmother.

 

Pumpkin spice bars with buttercream frosting made by my mom. Quite honestly the moistest cake I've ever had.

 

Bourbon Pecan Tart made by my sister and I together.