Christmas 2015

We have been having a wonderful Christmas, and festivities are scheduled to continue through to the New Year. The best part of it is taking time off to spend with family and friends.

One of our gifts was a huge hit: a wookie pajama suit for BroP!
Believe it or not, he had a Chewbacca t-shirt on before he even opened the gift. He hammed it up and sported it for most of the night, certainly giving us a Christmas to remember.

We also got to spend a bunch of time with our sweet NieceM. This was her first Christmas and you could tell she was in aww of this magical time of year. (Amazing photo courtesy of BroJ.)









Even Eva got in the spirit with her Christmas outfit. There was a lot happening, and she didn't appreciate being distracted for pictures.

Christmas Eve also happens to be MomB's birthday! While it is great to all be together every year to celebrate, I always feel a bit bad that it gets overshadowed by Christmas festivities.
I usually make or help make a cake, but this year I wanted to try something a little more special.




I think it took me three hours, and about half the dishes in the cupboards, but I made a Yule Log cake (a.k.a. Buche de Noel). It is actual an old European tradition you can read more about.

This is the Yule Log Cake recipe I used, but I added a chocolate ganache frosting.

The cake doesn't have any flour or leavening ingredients (stuff to make it rise like baking soda, baking powder, or yeast.) Instead it relies on eggs whipped into a stiff meringue and folded into the batter.  This is much more technical than most of the recipes I attempt, but it is a special occasion. It's not difficult but does take a lot of focus, time, and attention.
Overall it actually turned out much better than I expected. It even kind of looks like a log!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from our family to yours!