My Christmas 2011

I hope you all had a very happy Christmas! Ours was wonderful, very peaceful and with lots of excellent food and drink. Usually we spend the 24th of December at our place and I am the chef in charge. On the 25th my mother in law is responsible for the kitchen, and on Boxing Day my mom cooks and is the host of the day.

Of course we all try to decorate nicely and do our best in the kitchen - and Christmas usually is a feast, not only for the eye but also for the stomach. Needless to say that today I started with light food again to try and get the "too much of everything" out of the system again. Where are the days when I could feast day after day and did not feel stuffed? Nowadays I need a couple of days with rice and veggies and herbal tea to get ready for New Years Eve, when the next festivities are coming up.

Christmas Evening, with me being the chef in charge. I decorated during the week, so on the 24th there would not be too much rush. Our tree is very small this year, but there still was enough room for presents unterneath. And we could not put them there before anyway - I do not trust the cats. And I do not even trust the kiddos when they have the feeling that there might be some toy waiting for them.

I usually decorate in red and gold, my favorite Christmas colours. And honestly: The deco is just used for a couple of days, I do not want to buy a completely new set each year. But I change the details of course, this year it were three white deer in the middle. Oh, you see the starter: Scampi salad with a little lingonberry pastry on the side. Yum!

The kiddos got their presents right after dinner, and they had so much fun! It is amazing how happy they can be when they get new toys - I have seen people getting huge presents not being close to as happy as the kiddos are with the tiniest gifts. They were lovely and had tremendous fun!

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Our table at the in-laws on the 25th. The food was definately great, with my favorite starter plate of some tit-bits, salmon, stuffed egg, pastry....

Of course even our canine friend hoped for some goodies to make his way towards his waiting and very ready mouth. Oh well, it´s Christmas, we all are supposed to have fun.

Dessert was Mousse-au-chocolate-cake from Kurkonditorei Oberlaa. Too good to be true. And another day ended with a full stomach and the promise to go on a relaxing diet right after Christmas....

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Day three of the festivities. We weakend a bit in the morning, thinking of even more food. But around lunch-time we were ready again.

My mom insisted not to be on any photo, she was busy in the kitchen and we were not allowed to hunt her down. So, while waiting for the first course, Grießnockerlsuppe, we kept ourselves happy with a little photo-shooting. The kiddos were already busy with their lunch - huge bowls with rice and meat. Dessa already starts chirping in the car when she hears that we visit Omi - she knows that she will always get great food there, better than Mom usually serves.

"A rose and star with a view". The star starts glowing in different colours from 4.30 p.m. on. We were a bit too early for that - and when it started glowing we were just too well fed and lazy to make a photo.

The main course. I don´t know the name of the dish, but it is beef, steamed for hours, with a topping of apple, sour cream and cheese. So good, but it takes ages to cook, it definately is something for a holiday, when you are able (and willing) to invest a lot of time into cooking.

And on our way home we passed the house of an "extreme decorator" - we simply had to stop and take a photo. I am surprised that so far no planes have landed in his front yard by mistake. Enjoy!

These were our Christmas days. Now just a couple of days more and we take off into the New Year. Have fun until then, relax from all the Christmas festivities and stay safe and happy!