‘Twas the Night Before…

Christmas Eve is our time to go “Ahhhh…” You’ve abandoned work (for awhile), finished shopping (hopefully), trimmed the tree (at least as far as it’s going to get). Time to put on a sweater, sit back in front of a warming fire and enjoy.

As our daughter grew, our celebration became more and more centered around the night before Christmas, rather than the day of. We make a long, warm, comfortable evening of it: noshing on the buffet spread, sipping a Beaujolais Nouveau, chatting about the year gone and the one to come, chasing the dogs away from plates left on tables and opening presents at a leisurely pace.

Our custom for the meal is to serve a wide-ranging buffet of little bites, nibbles and finger foods. That way we can make ourselves small plates here and there as the craving strikes, snacking our way throughout the evening. Mark makes a large variety of such treats, usually combining some of our traditional favorites with a couple of experimental ones each year.

Christmas Day, as a result, is left without fuss or obligation. We get out of bed when we’re ready, put on our sweats and lounge about listening to new music, trying on new clothes, reading new user manuals and such. Dinner is a nice but simple affair, primarily designed to require a minimal amount of preparation and cleanup.

For this month’s blog, we’re sharing some of the “all-time favorite” recipes from Christmas Eve menus past. Furthermore, we’ve chosen them from a number of different countries, adding an international flair to the buffet. So, Bon appetit, Buon appetito, Mahlzeit, Smaklig måltid, and Tuck in!

A final note: this being our first year blogging, we’ve decided to take the month of December off, and allow ourselves to fully partake of the “Ahhh…” spirit. So there will be no new blog entry in January; but look for us again in February and we’ll try to help take a bit of chill off of the coming winter. Till then, be well and Happy Holidays!