Christmas eve already!

I made this as a last minute dessert addition to our family meal just a few hours ago. I'm so tickled with how it turned out, that I think it might have to become a tradition.

My family often did lasagna on Christmas eve and shrimp on Christmas day. We weren't turkey people, for which I'm thankful because Thanksgiving is really enough, in my opinion, for cooking a whole turkey. This year I started pondering what foods might we want to eat as our own family tradition, since we haven't started that. This caused mucho pondering for me because it is ALWAYS about the food for me. I have no care of gifts, but tell me what we're eating in great detail.

Since my kids refuse to eat anything these days that doesn't include hot dogs, pb&j, or chicken strips (foodie parental failure), deciding what to eat gets to be all about me. And a little bit about Mike. So I decided that, not being much of a meat gal, I would focus on my favorite vegetables. Shredded brussels sprouts with truffle oil and parmesan and layered eggplant baked with tomato sauce I canned back in August were the winners. I added crescent baked brie and chocolate cake (and a few Trader Joe's appetizers). I'm not sure what, if any, of these will hold ritual and become family traditions, but to say the least, I will be gastronomically  happy this Christmas.