You Gonna Eat That? Cause I will if you won't.

I've been thoroughly enjoying Christmas, I'm surprised my pants still fit. I've been starting most days with a cookie along with my coffee, although I did whisk some Amazing Grass into my coffee the morning we packed up and headed down to NY for Christmas. I haven't run in 5 days, but it's sunny out right now, although I'm not sure how icy it is, but I plan on getting out there to get some miles under my feet.

We started our feasting on Christmas Eve Eve, with Tex Mex takeout from the Cactus Cafe near my Mom's house on Long Island. I had a spicy fish taco, along with a veggie burrito, but I was bummed because they left the vegetarian chili off the burrito. My mom had bowls of chocolates throughout the house, by the time we left Eliza and I made a pretty good dent in them.

For breakfast Christmas Eve, Mike went out for bagels, I had a toasted Everything Flagel with butter, we always had bagels on Sunday as kids, such a great comfort food. I was good about not eating too much in anticipation of our main meal, an 18 pound Prime Rib. I thought of taking a walk or a quick run, but there was still so much snow from the storm last week, that the roads were a mess. So I played with the kids in the yard, then started cooking in the kitchen with my sisters.

I roasted 5 pounds of organic carrots, just sliced, then tossed in olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, and a bit of brown sugar. My sis in law D is a fabulous cook, she made stuffed mushrooms, a bruschetta with tomato, red onion, garlic and olive oil, and broccoli roasted with chunks of garlic and red pepper flakes. None of us had green bean casserole at Thanksgiving, so my Mom provided that, along with biscuits. The last dish was roasted baby potato's with garlic and fresh rosemary, made by my sister M.

I can't believe I forgot to take a photo of the finished prime rib, Mike roasted it on the grill outside and it was PERFECT. We got such a large piece because we thought there was a bone in it, but, nope, no bone! We had a LOT of meat, but after everyone took some home (and I picked at it bit by bit) there wasn't much left. My sister said a serving of prime rib is a scary 900 calories, but none of us eat this often, once a year if that, so we ate it guilt free. Plus we had such great vegetable side dishes. Hey, it's Christmas!

After we got the kids to bed, my sister Ali and Mike and I watched Emmet Otters Jug Bag Christmas, which is my favorite, and dug into one of those huge tins of popcorn. I opened an early present (a Snuggie, I think everyone everywhere got one of these) and was able to use it as a huge tablecloth so I didn't miss a single kernel of corn.

My sister Ali does Christmas morning breakfast, cinnamon rolls, eggs, bacon, toast. I also had a side of leftover carrots and broccoli to get some vitamins in my system, I didn't have my Amazing Grass smoothie at all while we were there, and that's how I get my daily serving of fruits, I'm not a real fruit person. I'm a chocolate person.

We made it to my Uncle J's for the day, and it was fabulous. All of my cousins were there, and Aunts and Uncles. My cousin told me she got a nine mile run in that morning down to the beach, I was so jealous. We started in on the apps, my Aunt L made a killer goat cheese log rolled in walnuts, cranberries and something else I couldn't identify. My Aunt J is Italian, so that's what we have for Christmas dinner, the only thing Irish about the meal is the drinking, and this year the drink was "Red and Ginger" Johnny Walker Red with Ginger Ale. I stuck with vodka tonics. There was an anti pasta (with knots of fresh mozzarella, I could eat just that and bread and be happy), sausage, peppers and onions, chicken parm, eggplant rollitini, penne ala vodka, spiral ham, and Caesar salad. I won't go into a long dessert description, but I made my border sugar cookies, and according to Eliza, the best thing of the whole day (not her presents) was the cake balls she had for dessert. These are little balls of cake whipped with frosting, frozen, then coated in chocolate and sprinkles. droooool.

Santa was very good to me, but the first present I opened was from my Aunt Linda, her coveted recipe for Irish Soda Bread, along with a cast iron pan to make it in. I seriously squealed with delight when I saw what it was. Her bread is the absolute best, I love it toasted with a bit of butter. I also got a Wii Fit Plus! Whoohoo! Now I can really tackle my fitness goals for next year, which involves a lot more cross training and strengthening of my core. I also got a new cookbook, Nigella Lawson's Christmas, oh, I love her, so I was very psyched for this new book of hers.

I'm not feeling guilty about any of my excesses these past few days, I know it's all about balance. And I'll get back on track this week, after I finish this brownie and bake two lasagna's for another round of festivities.....