Christmas with my family....

Every year on December 24th we gather at my parent's house. This group includes: my parents, my three sisters, one real son in law, and one son in law to be. We celebrate Christmas Eve, this works out great since Christmas Day, Jay and I usually spend with his family (I say usually because unfortunately this year I had to work... bummer).

However, when I think about all the holiday's we celebrate, I believe Christmas is Kinga's favorite, because our meal does not include any meat, only veggies and seafood.

The house is always decked out with Christmas decorations, every year my mom acquires new ones and so the collection grows. This year there was a whole village...Tobby.... he is sooo smart, loves to play mind games with Justyna's and my dogs... It's actually fun to watch, not so much Honey (she's only 7lbs) the cat is bigger then her it's not a fair fight, but Justyna's black lab Bear is a big dog, and yet to watch him cower before this sneaky ninja is really very funny...
Tobby's paw... sporting some very festive nail covers...Jay made the fish... pictured here whole salmon stuffed with veggies.. chilling in the snow... there was no room in the fridge...
wow.... I felt like I just missed Martha Stewart... I really liked this little set up... Karolina made a spiced cranberry drink with oranges it was good, but not pictured...
while waiting for dinner/supper we played Life... this game is hard, or maybe we were all suffering from low sugar levels... any who... somehow after finishing college I became a hairstylist....
this banister is holding up a lot of weight... stocking were stuffed to the limit...
one of the prettiest Christmas trees... surrounded by presents (unfortunately we forgot a couple, we're making up for that this Saturday)
salmon eventually makes it into the oven...
a very pretty table setting... I was so hungry by that time... uszka already placed in the bowls...
but first the wish wafer...
mmmmmm first course: barszcz i uszka (beetroot soup with mushroom pockets)
Justyna made bread from scratch.. it was dense and delicious... excellent as french toast the next day...
our turkey..... it was so goooood
and dill almond caper citrus sauce for the salmon...accompanied by a whole bunch of side dishes: beans and carrots...
crab cakes....
chipotle aioli for crab cakes...
pickled herring...
mashed potatoes....
potato and cheese pierogi...
peas and carrots...
mushroom sauce... made by Kinga... yum
and bigos....
oh boy.... my plate.... everything was so good... I acually wished I had room for seconds...
and some white wine...
after dinner we cleaned up... Karolina hung out with Aspen... he is so soft.... and even tough it looks like it in the picture he is not sleeping.. no matter how fast or how many pictures I took of him the little bugger always managed to close his eyes
oh yeah... Christmas wouldn't be Christmass without this set up...
dessert... yay....
you have to have at least two...
halfway through present opening... some of us just passed out....
more dessert...
and eventually the night came to an end... it always passes too fast... pictured below is Jay's and mine take away package... lol... it's horrible but this morning I thought "Darn I wish I took more cookies... and salmon..." I'll be a little bit sad when there are no more left overs in my fridge and freezer.
HAPPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!!