Menu Plan Monday: Looking back at Christmas, and forward to New Years

Upcoming: 

Monday, the 30th: Chicken Pot Pie (from holiday leftovers) 

Sunday we had another big family dinner here - so between Christmas and Sunday I have lots of leftovers. I have everything from veggies to stuffing and a lot of meat! I'm going to turn that all into Chicken Pot Pie when I get home. I have two refridgerated pie crusts I'm going to roll out to use, and inside will be a mix of leftovers with some corn and green beans added. The basic recipe comes from M is for Mama's recipe, but it is always a bit different when I'm using holiday leftovers as the filling. either way, mmmmm. I'm back at work today so it's nice to know there's an easy dinner waiting. 

Tuesday, the 31st:  Tortilla Soup

I work, and we're out for dinner but I'm going to make a batch of Tortilla Soup for lunch (the night before) and leave that for our house to eat over the day. It's my Brother in Law Colin's birthday, so we're having dinner with thema nd some friends - then Paul and I are heading back here and our friends are invited over for New Years Eve just to hang out and celebrate together. The name of the game is low key - rather than stressing myself out to make a great spread, I'm just throwing together a few things I have around the house (mmmmcrab drip) and calling it a party. 

Wednesday, January 1st: Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken, with Fried Rice. 

New Years Day always seems like a good time for Chinese food for some reason - so I'm going to attempt one final Chinese Meal - and this will either be the start of great chinese food or the nail in the coffin. Every time I try to make Chinese food I'm disappointed, so we'll see if I can make this one work!

Thursday, the 2nd: Chicken Alfredo Bubble Up with roasted vegetables

Since I'm working Thursday I will get the dinner prepped the day before - we're having a bubble up with leftover turkey. The Bubble Up's are always super popular around the house, and a great way to use up leftover turkey without feeling like you're having turkey AGAIN. Double win. I have a friend joining us for dinner, so I wanted it to be something tasty; bubble up's always fit the bill. 

Friday, the 3rd: Leftover Mashup

Friday we both have the day off - we will do some house projects but also we will be visiting with some old time friends that I haven't seen in almost 10 years. I'm really looking forward to it.  With a few parties being had there will undoubtedly be some leftovers around, so I'm going to take those and turn them into a meal so they get used up. 

Saturday, the 4th: YOYO (You're On Your Own)

We're heading out to spend the day with our friends the Froese's - we'll have lunch and dinner with them and all contribute. We'll be playing board games for the day - I'm very excited. 

Sunday, the 5th: Pork Ramen Stirfry

We didn't get to this the week before, so I've kept it in for this week. We'll see how it goes! We have church in the afternoon and nothing all day - this feels like the real final day of the holidays. 

In Review:

I mentioned a review of the weekend and Monday here earlier. 

Tuesday, the 24th: YOYO (You're On Your Own)  [Morgan Family Dinner]

Christmas celebration with the Morgan's! It was a day full of food and fun and family. I ate way too much, and got to enjoy Amaretto on the rocks (always a favorite). We played TriBond and Scattergories (where I was not a good sport) and I got to read for a while too. It was a pretty perfect day. I got a necklace and a new board game - and lots of fun stocking stuff, and some stuff for the BBQ! We slept there as well that night and as always, loved our time. 

Resting at Dad & Carol's

Salem, our nephew on the Morgan side, being adorable as a lion

Paul, his sister Katie, and I

CHRISTMAS DAY, Wednesday, the 25th: 

We woke up atthe Morgans and got to open our first ever stockings from each other. In my family we always did this in bed, since stockings appear at the foot of your bed while you sleep. Deep sleeping (sleeps like the dead) Paul Morgan even managed to wake up before me and put mine out - love! Then we all enjoyed breakfast together before Paul and I headed back to Vancouver. We went straight to my sisters house to open gifts with my family

The aprons I made

The boys showing off their new aprons - never quite sure which camera to look at

After that we immediately headed home to rest for a bit and open our own gifts. Paul was so kind and generous and I felt so loved and thought of. And he liked what I got him - we were both very happy. We then opened gifts with our housemate Duncan and everyone seemed pleased again. We rested for a while reading and enjoying gifts, then started on the meal prep. We had 17 people planning to come by 3 or 4 for dinner and I got that Turkey in by 2:30 - shockingly it was ready by 4:30! I swear, Turkey bags are the way to go every time!!!

We had Turkey (I cooked 2!), Ham, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Roasted Vegetables, Maple Roasted Vegetables and stuffing. It was so tasty and we were sooo full by the end of it. Games were played all afternoon and evening and there was a lot of laughing and poking fun. We were up until almost midnight with some of the younger folk. It was a perfect day. 

Thursday, the 26th: Breakfast Enchiladas and Holiday Leftovers

Our friends Hanne and Drian spent Christmas night at our place, so we got to wake up with friends in the house! The Maxwell's came over by 11am and we all had breakfast together. The older guys headed off to run errands and the girls stayed in, layed on couches and watched Elf. I made a gingerbread Train with Connor and Austin - it was a wonderful, relaxing day. 

The finished train

Connor standing beside the creation

Afterwards I had coffee with my Auntie Lesley (always a treat), then headed over to meet up with Paul at his Aunt Janice's house. We got to hang out with the Friesens and Morgan's and even his Auntie Louanne, when she arrived from Oregon. Lovely. 

Friday, the 27th: YOYO (You're On Your Own) TONS of leftovers in fridge

Friday was going to be a relaxing day around the house - maybe work on some projects. We slept in - I woke up at at 9am but laid in bed reading next to Paul who slept right in until 11:30am. When he woke up he said, "We should go to Whistler". So we did. I hadn't been to Whistler since I was 14 - and even then I went in the spring for a band retreat, so I didn't really experience Whistler. All I remembered of it was that they had a Le Chateau store. We packed a lunch and hit the road by 12:30. We stopped a few times: Park Royal for Old Navy's buy one get one for a dollar sale and Squamish's Walmart for Washer Fluid, socks and candy bars. We really enjoyed the drive up the sea-to-sky highway - not only is it pretty, but we also loved chatting with each other. We talked about everything from possible baby names (no, we're not pregnant yet) and future plans - all sorts of stuff. It was a lovely time. When we got to Whistler we walked the village and window shopped and eventually stopped for dinner at a cute pub - we ate outside and had a great time. We headed home and watched Home Videos (Paul promised to finally watch my family home videos - I've let him off the hook thus far but it was finally time) and we enjoyed a quiet night at home. 

Amsterdam Cafe Pub

Of course we wait until nightfall for the photo - so we're those black blurs!

Saturday, the 28th: YOYO (You're On Your Own) [Mitchell Family dinner]

Saturday felt like it started so early, when in reality it wasn't until 9:30am that my alarm went - it felt soo early though. I got up for a haircut, then headed over to have lunch with my friend Anacat. 

Anacat helped me step out of my comfort zone with Indian food for lunch!

After lunch I got to rest at home for half an hour, then took some time to process some meat I'd bought a few days earlier, and set out a dessert tray to bring to dinner that night. Thankfully our fridge/freezer was full of desserts! Then it was off to family dinner - there were about 26 or so of us and it was lovely. My friend Candace even joined us, which was so extra fun. We all sat around and chatted all evening - Paul and I were home until after midnight. Then I stayed up and read for a couple hours, then Lyndsay came home, so we stayed up and chatted until 3:45am....at which point I realized I could put the pork in the crockpot for lunch the next day. I was asleep by 4am and definitely a little tired the next day. 

Peaceful chatting around the room

Candace and I!

Sunday, the 29th: Balsamic Glazed Porkloin

Sunday we hosted a big lunch at my place for my family to do christmas with my Grandpa. I made Balsamic Glazed Porkloin, and my favorite Maple Roasted Vegetables. I also made roasted Broccoli and Asparagus, served some sundried tomato pesto pasta Jenna made and whipped up a stuffing dish. I had a bunch of mushrooms to use up, and a big batch of gravy, as well as some dry-ish leftover stuffing. I added dark meat turkey to the stuffing, then sauteed mushrooms in the grave and combined the whole bunch with some parmesan. Sooo tasty. It was a big hit. 

Then we were on to church - my cousin Jonathan preached on the Prodigal Son, but not about the runaway son, rather he focused on the older brother, the religious side of us. It was an amazing sermon and really convicting. Sam sang a beautiful song that was very moving and then worship was awesome. It was great all round. Then it was off to the Mitchell's for another family dinner, just for fun. We played Things in a Box and laughed. I left early since I worked in the morning and spent some time quietly reading in bed before having a great sleep. 

And that brings me to now....as the Christmas Season is brought to a close and it is time to take down the decor I keep looking at my little Christmassy bar and wish I could figure out how to make it all last a little bit longer. There's something about gold ribbons, red berries and candy cane stripes that make it all seem to magical. Especially as much of this display is gifts! My sweet husband surprised me with the gold tray and chargers - I'd been eyeing them at target for months. And he got me the little clear vase from Crate & Barrel. And our great friends Irene and TC gave us the owl cocktail stirrer's for Christmas - so this little vignette is not only festive but full of love too.