This past weekend my brother, Sean and I – along with lots of help from my mom – hosted Cook Christmas, our annual get-together with all my cousins, aunts, uncles and my soon-to-be 93-year old grandma.  We missed last year (obviously), so I was especially intent on scheduling it during our time in Iowa.

We prepared all the food and, if I do say so myself, our dinner on Saturday was really, really delicious.

Sean made a glazed ham, which was a crowd favorite. Sean was surprised by this, since for him, the ham was almost an afterthought.

I thought I didn't like turkey; usually, I skip the meat and go for the mashed potatoes. Apparently, I only like Justin's turkey. I don't know how he did it, but it was moist and flavorful and delicious!

With the roasted garlic brown butter mashed potatoes, crazy-good macaroni and four cheeses in soubise, corn casserole and a variety of other sides, we figured something light would be in order - hence these lemony green beans covered with almond and bread crumbs.

My mom and I handled table decor and decided to use my great-grandma's silver.

Admittedly, I made a ton of dessert - probably a few too many. Peanutbutter chocolate monkey bread, an apple galette, banana bars, toffee cheesecake with a pumpkin layer on top and some really, really chocolatey cupcakes. Five desserts in two days, but I loved it! And I think the fam did too.

I ordered a cupcake piping set just for this party and learned that the difficulty is not in the decorating, but in attaining the perfect frosting consistency. After a few flops, I ended up with two dozen cute and tasty cupcakes.

Despite the fact this entire post has been about food (what can I say, we love food!), the best part of the day, by far, was seeing everyone.  For the first time in a few years, we were all there.  It was so nice to catch up.  To have a glass of wine and sit together.  To trade gifts.  To eat, eat, eat.  I’m happy every year we’re able to have Cook Christmas because I know it’s only going to get harder as we all grow up, get married, move away and start having families of our own.

But we were able to celebrate this year, and I’m thankful.  Merry Christmas!

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