I often take a look back at the holiday baking I did from Thanksgiving through Epiphany; this year, I thought it would be fun to look back at all of the holiday meals and treats we’ve enjoyed, starting with Thanksgiving dinner:
We had our pick out dinner on Christmas Day this time:
And our fancy Christmas dinner on the Sunday after Christmas:
Of course we had our traditional New Year’s Eve hot chocolate bar:
And a special New Year’s Day dinner to start the new year right:
And finally, our Ryan’s Birthday/Epiphany feast:
On to the baking. There were pies for Thanksgiving:
And several cakes throughout the season, for St. Nicholas Day, Santa Lucia Day, Jesus’ Birthday, the fancy Christmas dinner, and New Year’s Day:
We baked so many Christmas cookies!
And an obligatory “other” section, for things like lussekattes, coffee cake, and even some special holiday beverages:
I put in a little extra effort this year, to make up for the fact that we couldn’t go anywhere or do most of our normal Christmas activities. In the end, I think we’ll have a lot of delicious memories from this holiday season!
If there’s anything that didn’t change too much for us this year due to COVID-19, it was Thanksgiving. That’s not to say things weren’t different at all, but we never travel for Thanksgiving, so at least we didn’t miss that, and we don’t always have family over, so while we missed seeing them, it wasn’t necessarily expected either. So, a lot of our three-day Thanksgiving holiday looked pretty much the same, starting with Pie Day on Wednesday, when we baked eight pies (seven for our family, and this year, one to give away).
In the middle of the baking, the children also made their yearly hand-and-footprint turkeys…Turkey and Bunny were kind enough to play along again this year at my request, since it is their last year in my homeschool.
We watched a very different version of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thanksgiving morning (in the words of Al Roker, it wasn’t the parade we wanted, but it was the parade we needed), which we enjoyed very much because it was something somewhat familiar. The same went for the National Dog Show, which was extra exciting for me this year because the dog I wanted to win actually did! And then we got ready for dinner. One of the best parts of any holiday is setting the table:
And the food. There was a lot of food, even with the turkey mishap we had in the morning (I ended up having to throw out the turkey I had purchased to roast, and we decided to order a second Beast Craft BBQ smoked turkey to ensure we had enough leftovers).
It’s always a pretty-looking dinner!
After clean-up and Holiday Inn, I got out the pies:
I limited myself to trying two kinds. This was my first attempt at lemon meringue pie, and I was very pleased with the results!
I made sure to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and helped Franklin prepare his holiday feast:
The day after Thanksgiving has been pretty different. We didn’t get to see Moose march in our town’s Santa Parade this year, which was disappointing…I’d really come to enjoy that event. And there was no town tree lighting or gingerbread house walk or trolley ride to look forward to after dinner. This morning, though, the family traditions did continue with pie-for-breakfast:
And turkey sandwiches for lunch, which I almost like better than Thanksgiving dinner itself!
Lego building is also part of our day-after-Thanksgiving celebration…I built the free-with-purchase A Christmas Carol set we received:
I always make turkey soup for dinner the day after Thanksgiving:
And after dinner, the Fab Five built a Lego Harry Potter set to add to our Hogwarts setup in the school room.
It wasn’t exactly the Thanksgiving we had planned, but all things considered, we had a very nice family celebration!
We never did get around to making and decorating cut-out cookies this year (I think we’ll make that a Valentine’s Day activity!), but I thought it would be fun to take a look back at all of the holiday baking we did do, from Thanksgiving Eve through Epiphany.
Chickadee spent most of today (not to mention yesterday) asking if it was time to eat pie yet. She was very excited about the pumpkin pie she picked this year!
Just when you think I’ve run out of new pies to try!
Last year, I found a recipe for a Nutella pie, and Turkey immediately decided he wanted it to be “his” Thanksgiving pie. He liked it so much, he decided he wants it again this year, and I don’t blame him…it’s delicious. Of course, I’ve made my own little tweaks in the meantime, so here is my updated recipe!
For the filling:
Pre-made Oreo pie crust
8 oz. cream cheese
3/4 cup Nutella
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Beat cream cheese, Nutella, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. In another bowl, beat cream until stiff peaks form; fold into Nutella mixture. Add to crust and chill for 30 minutes.
For the topping:
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
2 tsp. butter
1/8 tsp. salt
2 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
In small saucepan, bring the cream, corn syrup, butter, and salt to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; let stand five minutes. Stir until smooth; cool to spreading consistency. Spread over pie; sprinkle with toasted hazelnuts. Chill for at least one hour.
It took me about seven hours to make the nine pies we need for Thanksgiving this year. We’ll be enjoying caramel apple, cranberry-apple, chocolate hazelnut, pecan, s’mores, butterscotch, pumpkin, apple, and vanilla cream pie…but definitely not all at once!
