Christmas day has been the same in my house for years- opening presents in the morning, rushing around like crazy people to prepare food and clean the house in the afternoon, and having a big family party in the evening. Yesterday was no exception!
The morning started with presents by the tree. As usual, Ralphie & Co. kept us company…
| Go on and cry about it!! |
I was seriously surprised and thankful for the loot my parents gave me, which included a slow cooker for my apartment:
| I see many soups in my future… |
A new pair of Brooks Adrenalines (perfect timing for my upcoming half training):
And two new cookbooks:
My sister-in-law Cammy also got me some of the good stuff:
She knows me well.
Luke, meanwhile, got socks and underwear.
Clearly, I’m the favorite child…I kid, I kid. He also got a wedding and a honeymoon 
After presents, I got to work in the kitchen! Cammy helped me chop and prep food for a myriad of dishes. We worked nonstop for about three hours and managed to get just about everything done. Less time than I expected, for sure!
| Cammy and I |
Guests started arriving at about 2:30, and were greeted with an appetizer spread.
Crudites with ranch,
Mixed nuts,
Pita chips and whole-wheat pita with homemade sundried tomato and olive hummus from ED&BV (and Cammy’s Romanian eggplant dip, which I missed a photo of),
Shrimp cocktail,
Green and black olives with feta,
Brie with Mary’s Crackers and Ryvita biscuits,
And my Aunt Donna’s famous classic spinach dip in a pumpernickel bread bowl, which I also forgot to get a picture of 
For apps, I stuck to crudites, nuts, shrimp and pita chips with lots of hummus. The sundried tomato and olive combination was a winner.
Mike popped in to say hi for a few hours, too!
When the roast was done around 5:30, we all dug into dinner.
I’d made traditional Italian sausage, onion & peppers tossed with penne pasta,
Angela’s sweet potato casserole,
Parmesan-garlic mashed potatoes,
Rotini pasta with lemon-cashew basil pesto (also from ED&BV),
Roasted brussel sprouts, beets, broccoli and cauliflower,
Garden salad with romaine, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, red onion and oil & vinegar dressing,
Spinach salad with pecans, pears, dried cranberries, goat cheese crumbles and oil & vinegar,
Mama Pea’s better bay cheddar biscuits (which my cousins went nuts over),
Sliced seminola loaf and baguette,
And a pork roast, which my dad was in charge of.
I filled my plate with sweet potato casserole, pesto pasta, roasted veggies, garden salad and seminola bread. (I unintentionally ate completely vegan all night- easy to do when I’m in charge of food prep, I guess) The sweet potatoes and pesto pasta were by far my favorites- luckily we have plenty of leftovers!
Little Skreet was the life of the party! He takes awhile to warm up to people, but by the end of the night he was pooped from all his scurrying around and slept soundly on his mom’s lap.
For dessert, we brought out the spread I showcased the other day.
As usual, I went a little nuts on the dessert- a few small slices of each the pumpkin pecan brownie pie and raw chocolate cake, as well as lots of cake and peppermint barks, a dough ball, half a chocolate chip cookie, lots of fruit salad. The raw chocolate cake was an especially huge hit!
Overall, it was a wonderful night. I was definitely stressed about preparing so much food, but everything went smoothly and turned out just fine. I was dead asleep the second my head hit the pillow last night.
Time to get this day started. I have some stuff to do before this snow storm hits!
What was the highlight of your Christmas? Did you make any dishes?
Averie (LoveVeggiesAndYoga) 
Lindsay and James Co 
i would have gone crazy over your desserts too! hands down the best looking dessert table i have ever seen!— i didn't make anything special
some pumpkin pie though of course!
Can your family adopt me? I'd take a honeymoon paid for, or even the cookbooks and slow cooker
and can you adopt me? I'd love to raid the sweets table but would gladly try a cheddar biscuit.The photos are beautiful, your family is the kind of family that I think everyone wishes they could be adopted into…seriously just wonderful. Thank you for making my morning with your glorious xmas photos, Gabriela!
such a great time! We do the same but on Christmas eve. And I love the plaid skirt, stylin!Merry Christmas!LC
Wow - you were hard at work! The highlight of my Christmas day was seeing all my nieces and nephews open all their presents. Christmas is so much fun with kids!
i love your skirt! Super cute. I had a nice christmas with the lady's family that i have been renting a room from for the past four months for extership. It was like my adopted family for the evening! I made the christmas dinner. Mashed potaoes, roasted veggies, and a huge crown roast with apple cornbread stuffing. It was wonderful. Pumped for you and your new slow cooker!
Hope you plan on sharing that chocolate. And that cooker. And everything else you got.Sharing is caring! Kidding, kidding
You deserve every last gift you recieved. You're an extremely hard worker and a beautiful person! So glad you enjoyed your holiday! What a beautiful family and amazing food! Ah! Love it!Meg
Everything looks awesome! Looks like you did a great job! It definitely is stressful having to cook for a large group of people, but once everything is done and everyone's happy its totally worth it. Glad you had such a good Christmas!
Sounds like a great Christmas! Nothing beats our fried turkey
Where is your skirt from? It's perfect!
Wow what a fantastic Christmas! My family was actually able to play golf this Christmas which was really fun. I got so tired at around 6pm last night. Haha. But somehow I did stay up until 11 or so.
Looks like a great day! I love your outfit and the food…oh my it looks DELICIOUS!
Didn't make anything but I snagged recipes for a delish salad, an indian dish, and a layered pumpkin cheesecake dessert! Yummm. http://healthybalance-healthylife.com/recipes-shared-from-friends-and-family/
Wow, what a beautiful spread! I ended up making most of the dinner yesterday (which was totally unplanned, but I loved it)…nearly everything was vegan too! We had horseradish brussel sprouts, kale and roasted beet salad, twice baked potatoes, hummus, rolls, cranberry sauce, and a sweet potato bake. It was delicious!
merry xmas! i was sick in bed all day but living vicariously through you just now was fun!
Looks like such a lovely time and delicious food!!!! The only cooking I do for the holidays is my fudge and a crockpot chili. Easy peasy.
You look lovely here! As does all the food!
The highlight for me was my big present: a Garmin Forerunner! Whoop! 
All that food looks gorgeous! I'm so jealous you get to cook on Christmas. My mom is a stanch traditionalist and doesn't allow me to contribute anything fresh or healthy to our age-old menu of roast beef, party potatoes, and creamy broccoli casserole. It's good, of course, but it's all so heavy! Your food looks delicious AND fresh!
I LOVE your skirt! SO cute. and the food, as always, looks amazing!Merry Christmas
ALl of your food & dessert looks great!! So glad you enjoyed the holidays, love
What a beautiful tradition! I LOVE YOUR SKIRT!
Wow girl, that's a serious feast you prepared! Everything looks fantastic! I didn't really do any cooking or baking yesterday. I like leaving it all to my parents on Christmas.
You got some awesome gifts! I bet you're going to have fun with that slow cooker. The highlight for me was getting a Garmin Forerunner 305! I already took it out for a spin this morning.
Wow - amazing feast!I did cook and bake too but not like you!! just mama pea's nog on my door scones for bfast and sweet potatoes for dinner… everyone helped/ made something, which made it seem much more low-key.looks great though, way to gooooo!
Looks like a delicious feast! I hope you had a great Christmas!
Hi Gabrielle! Im a new reader
looks like you had a very delicious Christmas! I didnt bake any dishes but looking at your pics, now i wish i had!
So santa must have gotten my list and given it to you; those gifts are all things I would love to play with! Hope your christmas was great!KatherinePS: I read your blog over the summer and am re-starting my blogging; glad to get a chance to read again!
Merry Christmas Gabriela!I think it's so wonderful and generous that you made Christmas dinner for your family. I'm sure it took a lot of time and effort but also a lot of love went into that!I had a wonderful Christmas but one of the highlights for me was going to a friend's house and having others cook for me! Yum!
Ooh, the Canyon Ranch cookbook looks really fun - can't wait to see what recipes you post about. It looks like an lovely day with AMAZING food - you outdid yourself, lady! I contributed vegan mushroom gravy (we had Tofurkey and regular type) and veganized my mom's cornbread casserole. Plus a fruit salad.
WOW is all I can say! That has got to be the best spread of food I've seen thus far! You are AMAZING in the kitchen, love!
You look so pretty Gabriela! Love the skirt…such a classy Christmas look! Props for prepping so many good treats and food! Not sure if I could handle all that!! So glad you had such an amazing day
y'all have a delicious spread! I made some homemade hummus to contribute to the cheese platter, crackers, nuts, etc for apps. I also made a baked risotto dish for a vegan side option and some oatmeal chocolate chip vegan cookies for dessert.your pesto pasta looks so good - I'd like some right now! Billy and I got some fun kitchen gifts as well - things that were leftover from our wedding registry.
I made Christmas Eve dinner for my husband and I and then for Christmas day with the family I tried to make a dessert (Lime Chiffon Cake) which turned out to be an absolute disaster so I had to transform it into a trifle version. It ended up being pretty nice thank goodness but I was annoyed it didn't turn out. I also made spiced apple pie ice cream which was yummy!
Your dinner spread looks so amazing!!I happened upon that Skinny Bitch cookbook while perusing Amazon earlier and almost bought it, but held off to think about it/look up more reviews. I think you're a more reliable source than random people on the internet, though - so I'm dying to know how you like it!! You'll have to let me know after you take a peek at it
slow cooker!!!!!!!!!!!amazing spread! i am now craving marys crackers, hummus, dipped pretzel rods, and that dip from ED&BV. you guys are so cute in front fo the tree, too! merry merry christmas gabriela!
Sooo sorry for calling you Gabrielle earlier. I meant Gabriela!
I'm coming to your house next year. Anddd you looked gorgeous as always
Hope you had a fabulous Christmas, love!
You are quite the cook! Amazing you cook and bake so much at home for the holidays! Your holidays always look so sophisticated and fun too. With great food.
what a great christmas!!! the spread looks awesome and of course i love the desserts! you made some awesome dishes for you to eat vegan!
Looks fantastic, hun! and you look gorgeous!
i can't even express how obsessed i am with your Christmas outfit. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!!