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Last year we didn’t have much of anybody around<\/a> for me to cook for so I didn’t make much in the way of big fancy holiday meals.<\/p>\n This year we have an exchange student, but as I’ve mentioned before, she’s not keen on my cooking, so again I’m trying to keep things in check. We’re also leaving for Seattle on the 28th, so again, nothing to be gained by too much food in the house.<\/p>\n We’ll have our traditional pizza and silly holiday movies and leftover cookies tonight, and Al & Emma and Kaylah & Kendra are coming over but not for pizza, only for movies and cookies. Here’re my food plans:<\/p>\n Christmas Eve: one big sheet pan pizza, and I’m going to put some spicey salami and poblanos on one end, and leave the other end plain. Cookies. And I’m making the layered white chocolate mint bark<\/a>. And mulled wine.<\/p>\n Christmas Day, Brunch: Sausage & red pepper & cheese & egg strata, and overnight cimmy buns, with a sour cream dough. It’s a half batch of my buttermilk cimmy<\/a> buns, with the sour cream replacing the buttermilk. Some fruit, clementines and bananas and grapes. A few expensive raspberries, because it’s Christmas. And then for after movies dessert, I’m making a kind of Nilla Wafer banana pudding<\/a> but using blueberry compote, from frozen blueberries, instead of bananas. Our student likes berries, but I’m a mean host mom who won’t buy them for her out of season. She does allow as how her own mom won’t buy them for her out of season either.<\/p>\n More Pictures presently.<\/p>\n Dregs of mulled wine<\/p><\/div>\n Here they are: barely white Christmas; presents under the tree; kitty playing with boxes & wrapping paper at our annual wrapping fling – that’s her Christmas, she gets to play with the bows and paper and climb into boxes; egg & sausage strata (that our student did not like, not surprising); cinnamon rolls – the sour cream made a really squishy dough.<\/p>\n [portfolio_slideshow pagerpos=disabled]<\/p>\n I’ll let you know how the blueberry pudding dessert comes out.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/xmasmulledwine.jpg\")