"There's nothing as over as Christmas"

My mom used to say that, and I think she learned it from my grandpa.  Sad but true, ALTHOUGH my aunt, uncle and twin cousins are coming on Monday, so we'll have Christmas #2 and some quality family time.  When I was little we used to always do that- spend Christmas day here in New York, then leave for Indianapolis a couple days later to have New Years with my mom's side of the family.  

Yesterday before the movie, I had a big bowl of Mueslix with a banana and skim milk.

Hmm. So The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was... interesting.  To be fair, I was asleep during the first hour of the movie (I'm such an old man) so I missed the beginning set-up and context. But, that said- and this is all I'll say because I don't want to spoil it- Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt were obviously gorgeous, but that's pretty much all the movie had going for it. Oh well! The lines outside the theater were ridiculous.  They went 3/4 of the way around the block!  The Ziegfeld is a really cool old theater; I think it's the biggest one in Manhattan, so at least we all got to sit in the same area.

We came home for a tasty Christmas dinner prepared by my one and only Daddy-O.  We started off with a little Austrian white wine- how great is this bottle?!

We packed up the gingerbread cookies:

Poor Rudolph lost his head:

For some reason this picture won't rotate at all, but on the plate is spiced baked plantains and sweet potatoes from The Soul of A New Cuisine, a crawfish cake, and sautéed red swiss chard with onions and toasted almonds.

The bûche just might have been better on the second day.  I asked to have the end piece, which was covered with a thick slab of marzipan.  YUM.

And another little marzipan pinecone:

My breakfast cookie got a lot of goodnatured laughs while I was making it last night... I guess it's not the most appetizing thing to look at!

We tried out the gingerbread this morning.  White piping icing was NOWHERE to be found, so we settled for dipping them into Betty Crocker chocolate frosting.  Things could be worse.

I'm off to go to the gym and meet my mama for some shopping.  Have a great day!