‘Twas the Night Before the Night Before Christmas

For a million years, Christmas Eve was my holiday to host, and then it wasn’t. And then the kids started spending the night with their Dad, and I really, honestly, just didn’t feel like celebrating. If you find yourself in a similar functional dysfunction, I know you understand. Of course my kids are happy spending time with their Dad and his side of the family, but over here, well, it just doesn’t feel the same, like there’s a big part missing, and since they started spending Christmas Eve night with him, I just don’t celebrate it.

Thank goodness for friends and the movies, and late night bar food.

But, of course, I don’t want to miss celebrating the holiday as a whole, and entertaining, which I do love, so last year, a new tradition was born. ‘Twas the Night Before the Night Before Christmas. I get to still have a sort-of quasi-Christmas Eve celebration with my kiddos and my family, and on the actual Christmas Eve, everyone is off to do their own thing.

So … food!

If you know me IRL or have been visiting me here for any length of time, you know that appetizers are my favorite part of any meal, so that’s where I put my focus on with planning our feast. I also ran an unrelated event earlier in the day, so I kept my eye on simple recipes as well.

For noshing on before our main meal, I made a Spinach Dip, Onion Dip (always demolished by the kids), Spinach Cheese Squares (natch), seasoned Cheez-It crackers, a Marinated Cheese Wreath, and a Caprese Wreath.

Everything was so good.

I meant to make Shirley Temples for the kids, but completely forgot. There was also a Smashed Brussels Sprouts recipe that didn’t seem to make the dinner table either.

For the main course, I went with a Penne with Vodka Sauce, which is always a crowd pleaser. It’s easy and, well, you can’t go wrong with pasta. Rounded it out with garlic bread.

My mom and sister brought dessert.

Two Christmas Tree cakes, 12 mini cupcakes, apple pie and vanilla ice cream, and I had Candy Cane ice cream, along with a Rainbow Cookie ice cream.

Some of the newer recipes will follow over the next few weeks. The lighting (or lack there of) was so challenging, I didn’t get a ton of awesome pictures. Bring on longer days!