'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Christmas Eve is almost as exciting to me as Christmas day.  Why you ask?  It's kick off to everything we had been planning for the past 3 months and it's when the holiday really begins!  Everyone had arrived and we were all ready to celebrate the holiday - Sister from New Orleans, Patrick from Chicago, Michael, Nutmeg & Cutty from Connecticut and Fred from Manhattan -- a lovely group for a lovely occasion.  


In the past, Charles has had to work on Christmas day so on more than one occasion, we have had our big Christmas dinner the night before on Christmas Eve.  We thought this was a lovely tradition that we wanted to continue each year even when he wasn't working the next day.   It also takes the pressure off a big cooking meal on Christmas Day.  


This year, our meal consisted of a lovely fresh roasted turkey, my cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes and spinach soufflé with fried oysters.  We topped it off with a lovely apple pie that Sister made. 

Sister & I setting the perfect Christmas Eve table

Everyone had their very own monogrammed mint julep cup at their place

A large silver punch bowl filled with tiny presents was our centerpiece

Even Cutty had his very own place setting!  

Delicious Roast Turkey, Spinach Souffle with Fried Oysters & Cornbread Dressing

The turkey was perfectly cooked and would you believe in an oven bag?!?

We take our spinach soufflé to the next level by topping it with fried oysters

My cornbread dressing was so good at Thanksgiving, we decided to make it again! 

And who doesn't love mashed potatoes?

Dinner by candlelight - always lovely