Roberts Family Blog

Hi everyone!  Merry Christmas!  What a fantastic Christmas this has been.  There are so many things to update on, but I'm going to stick to Christmas Eve in this post so as not to overwhelm you or myself!  The most exciting part of Christmas Eve at our house was the fact that there was a full-fledged winter snowstorm!  Talk about a miracle - a white Christmas in Dallas?!?  I was trying to remember my last White Christmas and it could very well have been about 6 years ago in Davos, Switzerland, when my brother and I went to spend Christmas with our high school foreign exchange student, Phil, and his family.  I don't think I ever could have predicted that this would be my next!  We got all of our grocery shopping done in the morning when it was still just raining, but by the time we got home at about noon it was already turning to sleet and the temperature was rapidly dropping.  It turned to snow by mid-afternoon, and when Hayden woke up from his nap, it was a winter wonderland outside!  Of course I had already gotten myself ready for the party that evening; had even done my hair and make-up which is unusual, and Hayden wanted to immediately drag me outside to play!  Could I say no to that sweet face?!?  OF COURSE NOT!  So there went my efforts at looking pretty   So we got all bundled up and headed into the backyard to make snowballs and romp around.  It was so wonderful to get to experience a white Christmas Eve and it just made the night all the more cozy and warm and lovely.  Here are some photos of Hayden playing in the snow, and then warming up by the fire afterwards.

Unfortunately Texans are clearly not prepared to handle snow on the roads, because they were poorly treated and cars were sliding off into ditches everywhere.  The highway leading to our neighborhood basically turned into a parking lot, and our guests all arrived over an hour late and very frazzled from having battled ice, snow, and traffic.  Additionally, my brother had arrived late into DFW from London, and then had to battle his way to our house as well.  Thankfully everyone arrived safe and sound, and we were able to start our Christmas Eve festivities, just a bit later than planned!  We were hosting my parents and brother, as well as my high school best friend, Lindsey, and her husband Frank, and our good friend from California, James, and his friend Vicky. 

It is Nate and my tradition to host Christmas Eve at our house, and we always plan some fun and exciting menu that is more interesting and complex than our typical dinner party fare.  This year Nate watched an episode of his favorite show, Good Eats with Alton Brown, and was reminded of a childhood favorite - Baklava.  So that became our dessert recipe.  Next, Nate decided to make Cioppino as an homage to our former home in northern California!  We came across some really great specials on crab and lobster, and then added some shrimp, scallops, salmon, mussels and clams.  DELISH!!  I am a huge fan of the chopped salad at Buca, which is a really hearty salad with feta, provolone, gorgonzola, pepperoni, mortadella, tomatos, cucumbers, onion, black and green olives, and pepperoncini, all chopped up very small with lettuce.   I thought it was the perfect complement to a light, broth-based soup, so that became our accompaniment, along with some crusty warm bread.   The only thing I did wrong was to chop the salad up ahead of time.  I figured I would be too busy entertaining our guests and chasing kids to be able to chop up a million different cheeses, veggies and meats into tiny pieces.  Unfortunately the salad became pretty soggy, even though I did not dress it ahead of time.  The flavor was still delicious, but it didn't look very pretty!  I will definitely make it again, but be sure to serve it freshly chopped. 

The evening ended with a snoball fight with our friends, lots of homemade vodka and bourbon flowing, and great conversation!  A Christmas Eve to remember.  I will post again soon about the rest of our Christmas festivities, but for now we are off to look at trains at the Gaylord!