A Norfolk Christmas: Part I

Throughout our time as newlyweds, Chris and I hadn't yet spent a holiday in our own home. With wonderful family (on both sides) located close enough for a weekend visit, we've naturally taken the trip (up or down, respectively) for every holiday and special event.

However, as it has been an especially busy last few months for us, we decided to enjoy a cozy, quite Christmas at home this year. We love all of our family dearly, and while we enjoy every moment we spend together, we appreciated so much knowing that everyone understood our need to just be with each other this year in our own home. Following is a little look into our McLean Christmas. :)

Christmas Eve, Eve
In lieu of being just the two of us (and Bear) for Christmas this year, we thought it would be fun to go all out and enjoy cooking a true gourmet Christmas dinner together. We wanted to try some new recipes, and together we got to work searching the inter-webs for just the right meal. As a true Martha Stewart fan (her cooking and crafting that is, not the insider-trading ;-) I quickly found all I was looking for under her special holiday recipe section at marthastewart.com.

McLean Christmas Menu

Brunch

Egg nog french toast

Spicy sausage (from the local farm where we also get our milk)

Beverage

Cranberry-orange mimosas

Dinner

Cranberry-stuffed cornish game hens

Glazed carrots and ginger

Green bean casserole 

Cauliflower gratin

Cheddar biscuits

Beverage

Christmas at Biltmore Rose Wine 

(we purchased this bottle when we toured the Biltmore winery and estate on our anniversary in October.) 

With our ingredients list in tow, we made our way to the grocery store to pick-up any last needed supplies.

Note the sign Chris is standing under. Quite appropriate. He's my sweet goods. ;-)

Upon getting home, I quickly whipped up some homemade chewy molasses spice cookies, to take with us later in the car as we drove around looking at Christmas lights. These cookies turned out AMAZING, by the way. Best spice cookie recipe I've ever used. 

Dinner? A Digiorno pizza. Yep, not so gourmet, admittedly, but we jazzed it up and given the "McLean touch" with some extra special toppings, spices, and a drizzle of olive oil for the crust.

Our dear friend, Megan, was joining us on our adventure for lights that evening, so I packed up our freshly-baked cookies and a thermos of Chris's special french press coffee for some treats on-the-go.

Growing up, my mother never let us go out looking at Christmas lights without some home-baked goodies for the car-ride, and the tradition continues in our house, too. :)

P.S. My mom's pretty awesome. She's one of those amazing women who always made every occasion that much more memorable with all of her special touches. If you appreciate my love for cooking, home-making, and decorating, you have my beautiful mother to thank.

Our little bear didn't want to be left out, so he was tucked in quite cozily in the backseat to enjoy our Christmas light adventure.

We drove around most of the city it seems in our search for great lights, and ended up at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront for their yearly Christmas Light Extravaganza on the beach. They block off the entire boardwalk area for cars, and deck several miles with lights. After an hour of waiting in line to get to the beginning (most of our city was there with us!) we finally began...

For those of you in the area who considered taking part in this, it's a bit pricey at $10 a car, however, there was something special about enjoying lights with the sound of the ocean in the background.

Christmas Eve
With all of our preparation for Christmas finished the night before (yay), and no additional errands to run, Chris and I started our day off with a yummy protein shake before heading off to the gym for some Body Pump (me) free weights (Chris) and a Body Combat class (together).

Little Bear is best friends with our mailman, and as a little thank you for all the doggie treats he brings Bear throughout the week, I wanted to give him some Christmas goodies: A bag of the molasses spice cookies I'd made the night before.

We have a cozy, independent theater (built in 1930) located right down our street, and we were delighted to find out that they were showing "It's a Wonderful Life" during the week of Christmas. We decided to make the afternoon showing our Christmas Eve outing.

I never cease to be touched by this movie, and yet again walked out with tears in my eyes. It was special to enjoy it in all of it's original  glory on the silver screen -- seated in the balcony (our favorite spot!) This was also Chris's first time seeing the film all the way through. Shocking, I know! Especially considering that I've probably seen it 20 times.

We were invited to a friend's home for a Christmas Eve dinner party, but as my back started acting up some (I deal with chronic back pain -- usually manageable, but it can flare up at various points) I ended up opting for pj's and the couch. Our friends insisted we enjoy some of their party food to-go, so Chris trekked out to bring me back some incredible chili, homemade salsa, and delectable desserts. What a blessing and so incredibly delicious!

After learning that I'd never seen "A Christmas Story" (it's true, I think I'd only seen bits and pieces here and there over the years) Chris insisted we watch it that evening, and luckily found that good old TBS was running a 24-hour marathon. Favorite part: "Fra-gil-e. Ah, it must be from Italy." ;-)



So, how did our Christmas meal turn out? Stay tuned...Part II coming soon. ;-)