Christmas in the family

We toured, as we traditionally do, along our families for the Christmas celebrations.  For many years already we visit my in-law family on Christmas Eve and then we celebrated Christmas lunch with my relatives. 

Christmas Eve was a busy evening with many people around the table, children being overactive and noisy and lots of presents in the secret Santa that got organized for the first time. 

An original snow ball as dessert...a little bit of White Christmas? 

In order to avoid a nightly drive back home and a return on Christmas morning along more or less the same itinerary, we had booked a night in a hotel in the area.  This reduced the nightly driving greatly and ensured us a nice breakfast buffet and chill easy morning in our room before we had to move on. 

At my mom's the family was unfortunately not complete since my brother-in-law was not fully recovered from his recent Covid infection. While my sister had been cured already longer and was no longer testing negatively, she still kept herself safely at distance for as much as she could. 

The meal was much less stressful than previous years since we opted for a nice cheese platter. No ovens that needed to be timed, no plate dressing to be done, no sauces to be perfect. Much nicer this way.