What I Ate Wednesday #351: Christmas Wrap-Up

I feel like it’s just too easy to make a pun that involves wrapping around the holidays, so I went there. As I was saying on Monday, I haven’t really been super into the holiday spirit this year, but I was really happy I got to spend Christmas in New Jersey with my family. My dad says that Christmas Eve and Christmas morning are his two favorite times of the year, so being there has always been important. In the past I’ve found myself overwhelmed by the holidays, but I’ve found that basic self-care things that help ground me like a walk, an indoor workout, and/or yoga help a lot. I’ve also been trying to appreciate the little things more.

Case in point: My Christmas Eve breakfast was a freaking little Christmas miracle.

Anyway. My family has their own little Christmas Eve traditions where we cook and enjoy dinner together, watch movies, and sometimes play a board game. This year it was Cards Against Humanity. My mother won.

We usually spend Christmas Day with extended family on my mom’s side. This year, one of my aunts hosted, so we did a quiet Christmas morning at my parents’ house and made a late breakfast before heading over there.

Here’s what was on the menu for the food part of the holiday:

Christmas Eve:

Breakfast: steamed kale, leftover baked sweet potato, tahini, and two fried eggs
Lunch: chickpeas with more kale, cherry tomato, tahini, spices, and s spoonful of yogurt
Afternoon snack: plain Greek yogurt with ground flax & cinnamon
Afternoon snack of yogurt with flax
Appetizers: a few pieces sashimi, veggies & hummus, a slice of baguette with pate, prosecco to drink
Dinner: Lamb (from my grandma’s recipe), broccolini, and shredded Brussels
Dessert: strawberries & zabaglione, a few sips of Bailey’s over ice

Christmas Day:

I woke up really early and was wide awake so I figured I’d just get up and enjoyed a good workout in my parents’ basement. They have free weights and a treadmill and some other stuff there so it was a convenient way to kill time and blow off some steam. My sister came over around 9 to open presents, and then we made breakfast. We spent the rest of the day at my aunt’s house.

First Breakfast: (not pictured) Plain Greek yogurt with chia seeds, cinnamon & cocoa powder—I need to start doing cocoa in my yogurt again. It’s so good!

Second Breakfast: Leftover sashimi, an egg white & veggie scramble using leftover veggies ; a piece of bacon ; leftover sweet potatoes ; a few strawberries ; lots of coffee