We Survived!

After and overly ambitious Christmas weekend filled with dinners, brunches, friends, and family, I'm entering the last week of 2011 feeling bedraggled but happy, sick but content.

What a weekend! We hosted two Christmas dinners and two Christmas brunches, with all the grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, and dishes that implies. Our very house feels exhausted, as though it simply cannot fathom the idea of welcoming one more person into it.

Still, it was worth it. I realized one night, after the dishes were done and I was sleep-walking my way through washing my hair, that if you have enough friends and family to celebrate Christmas with that you feel exhausted by the end of it, you are a very blessed person. If all those people effectively exhaust your toddler too so he sleeps well, then that's just bonus blessing.

In case you're curious about some of the food we made this weekend, here are some highlights I recommend:

Vegetable Tarte Tatin This dish stole the show! It's a bit tricky to make but so worth it, the combination of flavors is lovely and it's so pretty to serve.
Smashed Potato Gratin Maybe we smashed the potatoes a little too much, but this dish seemed to us to be just really fancy mashed potatoes. That said, they're absolutely scrumptious fancy mashed potatoes.
Baked French Toast Casserole I made this for brunch on Christmas Eve, and served it with eggs and bacon. So tasty! The bread turns custardy overnight and the praline topping rounds it off nicely. Plus, you make this the night before so there's less prep time in the morning.

As Aidan plays with his multitude of new toys, content and calm as a tiny Hindu cow, I can't help but feel blessed. Blessed and content and calm. And tired. Oh, so very tired. How was your weekend?