Beauty and the gin: Christmas Day in Pictures

So I thought I would share a tradition that has been going on for years in my family. As soon as we were old enough to take Santa out of the eqaution my mom started to use "From: _____" and just put some fictional character or celebrity name. This year I used Harry Potter characters names.

Here is the aftermath of opening presents

And my least favorite thing, the "yule log" on TV. If you don't know what the yule log is then be very grateful. You basically have a looped burning log on Christmas morning playing worst versions of Christmas music possible.

After opening all the presents we headed to Downtown LA for some good coffee.

I ended up getting an eggnog latte which was really good and put me in the spirit of the day and gave the boost of caffeine I would need to complete the day at hand.

This is the best gift ever...no traffic and beautiful warm sunshine.

I decided to torture myself by making homemade pumpkin pies for dessert on a very time constrained

I really love using veggies to prop up the turkey away from the pan, a great way to do two dishes at once.

I did my usual herbed butter rub on the outside and underside of the skin to add flavor and to help evenly brown it then stuffed the cavity full of herbs and lemons

I also made some penne and cheese with some fresh tomatos added at the last minute to keep them fresh tasting.

For an appetizer I made these bacon meatballs ahead of time 2 days earlier.

To serve i put them in a crock pot with a couple cans of roasted tomatoes and added some herbs then finished with some parm and fresh basil from the herb garden.