) this week, I'm gonna share my Christmas Eve/Christmas day feast with you all!Christmas Eve was filled with fitness, food, fun, and family. My four favorite things in the world!
I started it off bright and early at 6:50/7:00 am with a workout...
Oatmeal bread with White Chocolate Wonderful + cinnamon roll protein cream + banana slices + crunchy cereal, topped with clean chocolate fudge + more banana & cereal + Christmas sprinkles + more cinnamon roll protein cream + a drizzle of light maple syrup + my advent calendar chocolate! Oh, and a sifting of some nice powdered sugar, of course. 
After breakfast, I quickly showered and got ready for the day.
Then, my mom and I head out to run some errands!
When we got back home, we continued to set up and clean and what not. I had a snack of some fresh turkey and steamed vegetables with ranch yogurt "dip" while I waited for my mom to be ready so we could head out to get some of our food!
2:30/3:00 eventually rolled around, which was when all of my family (aside from one cousin and my uncle and his girlfriend), and we all got to eat! We started off with appetizers, and then moved on to our delicious main courses.
Appetizers: a huge plate of fresh shrimp with hot cocktail sauce, prosciutto wrapped breadsticks (my personal favorite!), and a HUGE delicious antipasto one of my uncle's brought.
Main courses/dinner: homemade baked ziti, Italian meat pie (aka one of my absolute favorite foods now), and loads and loads of fresh seafood in marinara sauce!
After stuffing our faces to the point of exhaustion, me, my brother and my cousins (minus the one who wasn't there yet) all head out for a bit. First we went to the mausoleum to visit our grandparents, and then we head over to Seaside Heights to see how it's keeping up after Hurricane Sandy a few months ago. It was quite depressing, to be honest. I'm still in shock about the whole thing!
An hour later, we arrived home, ate some more, and waited for our other cousin and our uncle and his girlfriend to come. When they all arrived, it was the best time... aka dessert time! We had a ridiculous amount of dessert for the amount of people, but hey, I wasn't complaining!
Homemade cookies (chocolate chip and chocolate with peanut butter chips), homemade rice pudding (aka one of my favorite desserts now), homemade super moist brownies, my homemade "hot chocolate" cupcakes with a candy cane handle (bigger picture on the right!), one of my cousin's homemade Santa cupcakes, a dish we all like to call "mush" (it's kind of like a giant pudding pie with a whipped topping), and the best part: a giant cannoli stuffed with mini cannolis... with extra cannoli filling to dip the actual cannoli shell in.
After two of my cousin's and one of my uncle's left, my family and my other cousin's exchanged presents. (Long story short, we never exchange with the other's because of their mom who never wanted to.)
They got me a coral Victoria's Secret v-neck hoodie, delicious smelling body sprays and lotions, nail polish, and the most gorgeous ombre purple scarf! Oh, and earlier in the day, one of our neighbors randomly came over and gave us $600 WORTH OF GIFT CARDS. Like... WHAT?! Six. Hundred. Dollars????!!!! That's over half a thousand! (Obviously...) They know how hard my mom (and dad) are struggling to keep our house and they found out when we're getting served for foreclosure in a few months, and they make a decent amount of money so they decided to be so super generous and amazing by surprising us with this freaking amazing gifts. We were speechless and we sent them an edible arrangements in return. It’s all and the least we could do. We were, and still are, SO appreciative.
I ate enough food to leave myself looking legitimately pregnant by the end of the night... I might of ended it with a horrible stomach ache, but it was well worth it! I can't believe it's over already... 364 days to go! 
But, I, of course, laid out some cookies and milk for Santa before heading to bed Christmas Eve night...
Then happily awoke Christmas morning to this lovely sight:
My presents consisted of...
A PUNCHING BAG WITH GLOVES!, a workout sandbag, Victoria's Secret pajamas + sweatpants + tote bag (which came with some perfume/lotion/etc. insde!) + workout/yoga spandex shorts + red keychain, nail polish, "Cooking with Coolio" the cookbook (hahahaha!), brand spankin' new GORGEOUS and PERFECT bright neon workout sneakers (mine now are basically fallen apart!), spiked/studded combat boots which I am deeply in love with, instant mini donut and cupcake makers, gourmet lollipops, fake pearl earrings, a GORGEOUS giant heart mood ring, new nail files, a big eyeshadow kit, new mini Christmas-themed spoon and fork (I LOVE mini utensils! Haha), gum, an egg scrambler (my mom/Santa is too cute), a lovely blue fake Otterbox iPhone case, an Insanity tank top, a Blogilates tank top, new socks, and nail polish remover!
From my siblings I got new tongue rings/barbells, a brand new huge mug with a spoon, and a gorgeous mint green glittery Victoria's Secret iPhone case!
I can't even describe how lucky I feel. My mom purposely puts aside a certain amount of money every year prior to Christmas so she can get me and my siblings gifts. I'm so grateful.
After opening presents, I made breakfast for me and the family again! Mine consisted of some of my best pancakes to date...
Other meals following mostly consisted of leftovers from Christmas Eve. And, again, I ain't complaining! Especially about the leftover antipasto and meat pie... OMG Italian Heaven!
Overall, I had an awesome, awesome past two days, and the tummy ache(s) were so worth it! 
I love Christmas time more than anything, and I'm so sad it's coming to and end...
I love Christmas time more than anything, and I'm so sad it's coming to and end...
Oh, wait, no it's not! It's always Christmas in my little world! I like to treat everyday like it's the most wonderful time of the year.
I like to treat everyday like it's the most wonderful time of the year.
dear LORD that stuffed french toast looks out of this world!!!
ReplyDeleteIt was incredible! I LOVE stuffed French toast!
DeleteThose pancakes look AMAZING!
ReplyDeleteThey were hehe thank you! :)
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