An Asian Christmas

Hi friends. How long has it been since I posted? I don’t even want to look back! I have been so absorbed with family and friends I haven’t been very faithful about posting lately!

Part of the craziness involved the holidays. This Christmas I was so blessed that both my out-of-state kiddos came home and… bonus! We got a new blessing because my son brought home his new girl Makayla.

It was so fun to watch these new lovebirds act all googly-eyed at each other. We loved her right from the start! What a sweetheart!

For the first time in three years we actually mailed out Christmas cards.

It only took …243 (seriously, i’m NOT kidding) shots to get us and our four grand-babies looking the same way, no arms up, or hairs out of place. Except that one dorky woman who is still not looking the same way, but we all know she is just never going to get things done properly….

But really…aren’t they just PRECIOUS?!!

And this will be an ENTIRELY different post later on, but we continued our Christmas Minute To Win It tradition which was extra hilarious this year!

I wanted to tell you about our food theme we did this year because it was so fun and delicious!

We were so holiday fooded out, we decided to do an Asian theme and it was so fantastic, we may do it again!

First off and not at all Asian, I had a hot chocolate bar because I’ve always wanted to do one but it was so warm that day I’m not sure much was consumed.

We made multiple batches of Pad Thai that morning and put them in the crock pot. Instead of adding the cilantro, green onions, chili flakes and crushed peanuts, we simply served them as condiments on the side. (Click here for my authentic recipe.)

We also made Korean bulgogi (recipe coming soon) and served it with white rice and small squares of dried Nori (seaweed).

We also made Gyoza (potstickers – and my recipe can be found by clicking here), scads of them – filled with ground pork, ginger, garlic and cabbage and a hefty dousing of sesame oil.

Mr. Wonderful took these outside along with mini egg rolls and fried them up crispy and golden. Oh my gosh, were these good!

Mr. Wonderful’s mama made Char Siu.

Char Siu (pronounced char-soo-E) is basically a BBQ pork dish found in various Asian cuisines involving a marinade that involves things like five-spice, hoisin and other Asian flavor and it’s delicious!

My sis-in-law Cheryl brought a big pan of stir-fried vegetables.

And my daughter in Lindsay made beef and broccoli.

And we always request this -Lyndsay made her famous Fried Rice. I can’t believe I haven’t posted a recipe for this yet. This is hands down the best fried rice EVER.

The night before, Mr. Wonderful gifted me with this interchangeable Buffet Caddy and I loaded it up with Christmas plates, chopsticks and forks (for the chopstick-challenged folks).

Mr. Wonderful’s birth family are all extremely dexterous with the chopsticks – the rest of us?

Not so much. (I’m getting better though!)

And for dessert there were lots of goodies.

Including these little purchased red velvet cakes that we gave the kids complete with candles to blow out when we sang “Happy Birthday Jesus”. It’s an old family tradition from my childhood and I wanted to keep it going to honor the real celebration!

Also – I think these fall into the dessert category. My Mom-in-Law makes these inari sushi pockets and Mr. Wonderful absolutely loves them!

Have you ever had a non-traditional themed Christmas? We loved doing this and it was beyond fantastic!