The holidays are special because it provides me with the time & space at the end of the year to pause, relish in gratitude, and spend quality time with family and friends. Each year around November, we decide amongst friends and family who will be hosting, which Christmas game we’re going to play, and how many white elephant gifts do we need to browse Amazon for — and each year, the get-togethers vary a little but the fun, love, warmth remains a constant. I’m lucky and thankful for that.
Christmas day is reserved for the family, however this year our families celebrated on Christmas Eve so Thomas and I wanted to host something. So we did an intimate Christmas brunch … which was enough reason for me to go “all out”!
The star of the brunch was my breakfast board: thick cut bacon, breakfast sausages, pancakes, scrambled eggs with green onion, rosemary, honey & syrup to complement.
The co-star was the yogurt parfait which to my surprise was immediately inhaled by my family. I added vanilla honey yogurt with honey granola on top. As you can tell, I love honey! All served in a wine glass for that necessary extra-ness.
There’s no debate with me that dessert shound be served at every party, even breakfast parties. On Christmas Eve, I picked up mochi donuts from a local donut shop and tart bites from Whole Foods. We indulged in it throughout our conversation because why wait until the end for dessert? 😉
As for the added touches, I picked up these Winter Peonies at Whole Foods (I can never pass on a bouquet of peonies) and fresh winter pine from Trader Joe’s (which actually lasted the entire month).
Christmas brunch was perfect in many ways. First of all, it was acceptable for me to stay in my Christmas pjs all day as I cooked, prepped, and cleaned .. literally all day. I also got to cook for my mom and she could simply relax and enjoy. My brother enjoyed everything. The dogs got to play & open their gifts. And of course, it was my first Christmas with my husband 😉
I think this might be a Christmas tradition!
Love, Shayna
