Christmas Gifts

...Continued from yesterday:
      Christmas day started off, as most days do for my mother, with 8 am Mass,

...after which we returned home to prepare for what in our family is the highlight of the the day, Christmas breakfast. Or, as we call it, The Feast.
     At home The Feast involves everyone pitching in to get the food made and on the table. At my mom's the tradition continued, as the kitchen became a beehive of activity,

...with Miguel making a guacamole from his grandfather's recipe,

...Justin fixing his special spinach sauteed  in olive oil,

...my mom assembling the fruit salad,

...while I oversaw the general preparations,

...and the girls, whom we'd asked to wait until after breakfast to open their gifts, played patiently in the living room,

...or in their favorite cozy-spot, behind the bar.

      Finally The Feast was on the table,

...scrambled eggs with sides of mushrooms, spinach, sausages, guacamole, chips, rolls,

...tater tots, fruit salad,

...cinnamon rolls warm from the oven and mini-pastries.

     After breakfast clean-up we returned to the living room,

...to watch the little ones open their gifts,

...the rest of us in our family having given up the ordeal of Christmas gifting years ago,

...which is not to say that the day was without its treats for the adults,

...especially our computer-karaoke "Hamilton" sing-along.

     We do love us some karaoke.

    Later we had a sing-along to my piano-playing,

...and a couple of piano lessons,

...and much hanging out.

     When dinner time rolled around, though there were plenty of left-overs in the fridge, my mother said, "Oh, forget the left-overs! Let's go out to the Stargate!"

    So we, along with quite a few other Seaford citizens, had Christmas dinner at the Stargate Diner (see post from yesterday).

    And very good Christmas dinners they were.

...though some of us were more in the mood for breakfast food, Claire opting for French toast and scrambled eggs,

...and my mom the sausage omelet;

...while others were more in the mood for lunch, Miguel going for the crispy chicken wrap,

...and Justin the veggie wrap, the yumminess of which I can vouch for, having had the veggie wrap myself a couple night ago;

...and some of us were in the mood for dinner,

...Tom and Maria ordering the Tilapia,

...and Tommy the chicken in scampi sauce,

...while I dug into a gargantuan and delicious platter of Eggplant Parmesan over spaghetti.

  A good Christmas it was.

    Happy Holidays to all,

...and to all, a good night!