Tonight we celebrated Christmas Eve with a meal and wine at our house and exchanged some gifts that the kids made themselves.

Our meal was in three courses (recipes from Ina Garten’s Back to Basics):

  1. Roasted potato leek soup from roasted potatoes and leeks, white wine, crème fraîche and Parmesan cheese garnished with crispy shallots
  2. Cape cod chopped salad with arugula, apple, toasted walnuts, blue cheese and dried cranberries dressed with an orange-maple dressing
  3. Herb-marinated loin of pork with maple-roasted butternut squash and parmesan-roasted broccoli

The soup and salad were served with a Murphy Goode chardonnay and the main course with a Nickel & Nickel cabernet sauvignon.

Mom provided a light dessert of cookies and candies which was followed by our small Christmas Eve gift exchange.

Dishes are finished and everyone is getting ready to sing for midnight mass at St. Joseph’s Church in Hays – and anxiously awaiting the prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

Merry Christmas to all!