boxing day

happy fri-yay! let's celebrate with boxing day photos and a slice of cake, shall we? boxing day, traditionally speaking, is the day after christmas when servants and workers could go home to celebrate the holidays with their loved ones. upon leaving, their masters would gift them boxes with trinkets or money. in my family, we celebrate it on the 26th by eating drool-worthy comfort food, exchanging sweet little knickknacks (with an element of white elephant involved), and sip themed cocktails. 

this year, our food theme was a 'grandma meal'. to quote my mom, "a grandma meal is something that would remind you of home...the perfect food to welcome you back". so, our choice was the classic pot roast with all the fixings. my great grandma was a big-time meat and potatoes kind of woman, so this would have been an easy favorite of hers. anytime i have it or even think about it, i think of her. 

for dessert, i went with something festive that i thought my great grandma would've loved (with a twist)...cranberry cake with white chocolate ganache frosting topped with candied cranberries. i baked the cake and candied the 'berries in advance to cut down on time, and my dad amazingly took lead on making the icing just right. 

[now to add the berries on top]

[grandma of dogs]

after dinner, we moved on to the gift exchange...mischievousness and hilarity were of course involved. plus, i love seeing my brother's face when he accidentally chooses a girly gift...it's priceless!

[mattie moving to evan's lap]

for the cocktails, my grandma jeannie took lead and made her new concoction i'm unofficially naming the st. mescal. it's not exactly christmas themed, but it is delectable and far too easy to sip. just thinking about them makes me want another.

then, it was on to dessert. this is probably my favorite cake i've made this year, and even T ate it. for the record, T hates cake...when we narrowed down cake options for the wedding, i had to sample them all. he'd only have one baby bite of my favorite from each place. and if you've planned a wedding, that's a lot of cakes to get through... so, you can imagine my surprise when he actually ate the entire piece.

[yum]

another great boxing day in the books!