Christmas Day Brunch at Our Home

Each year I host our Christmas day brunch.

I set the table on Christmas Eve before heading to my parent's house for dinner.

{The vintage pinecone ornaments are new this year.
Found on my day of nutcracker "antiquing" with Andrew}

I think brunch is my favorite meal for entertaining.

So much can be prepared ahead of time, it's a bit more casual, 

all the clean up is finished by 1:30 {In theory. I'm still cleaning up a day later},
and everyone is usually pretty hungry.

The Menu

Sausage, Spinach and Roasted Red Pepper Torta 

Hashbrown Potatoes

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Mixed Berry Salad

Orange Juice

Coffee

{click on item for recipe link}

{I used frozen hashbrowns from Trader Joes, cooked in olive oil + a little kosher salt.

The berries were sprinkled with sugar 2 hours before brunch.
The sugar brings out the juice and creates a yummy sauce.}

I'd like to pretend that everyone sat down and enjoyed

a nice leisurely breakfast, but the truth is we sort of ate in shifts.

My 2 year old nephew was asleep on arrival and 

remained so, cuddled in my sister in law's arms.

My furry four legged sister....

...just happened to be the same height as the kid's table,

so she required some adult supervision while the children were eating.

There was a lot of running around and anxious anticipation with the boys, especially mine,

because at 12:00 PM on Christmas day they still had this waiting under the tree...

After my family left, we spent 2 hours opening gifts.

I'd bet my children were the last in our town to open their presents.

I love that they took their time. 

That they played with each gift after it had been opened, that we opened one at a time.

No rush, no frantic tearing into the paper. 

I'm really not sure how we became so civilized about gift opening.

I realize this is highly usual behavior for children my age,

but trust me, they make up for it by being highly rambunctious in plenty of other ways.

I know everyone is likely all Christmas pictured and posted out, 

but I do still have a few more pictures coming...

Just one more post before we wrap up 2011.
Hope your Christmas was filled with a little magic too!