Holiday tradition feels so important to me. One of my favorites being my Christmas breakfast with my parents. Growing up as an only child, I had the value of friendship instilled in me from a very young age. And during the holidays that means sharing Christmas Eve with our closest family friends, who have become family. Like most Christmas Eves it's basically a ton of food and a lot of laughter and then everyone exchanging gifts and talking about how full they are. #NoRegrets. It is a marathon of prep and eating and entertaining until well after midnight, and then of course cleaning. Wonderful, but exhausting. Then, for my family, Christmas Day is typically spent with my mom's side who are all just, like, totally nuts (myself included). The afternoon is filled with everyone stuffing our faces and essentially throwing wrapping paper at each other. It's great. And then once again, clean up duty as my parents are usually hosting. In the meantime though, that has never left much time for my parents and I to even open our gifts to each other on Christmas Day. We usually do our own little thing on the 26th because it's the only chance we have to actually relax. And stockings? Forget it. Those sit in the fancy living room until, I'm not kidding, July. At which point we bring them to Cape Cod and open them there. We could be millionaires from the scratch tickets in those things and have no idea for 8 months.
BUT, the one thing we do make time for every year is to have a sit down breakfast just the 3 of us on Christmas morning, well, more likely at around noon in recent years because my mom and I like to sleep late after staying up all night gossiping. My mom sets exactly one half of our dining room table that is used exclusively on holidays. My dad bakes an entire honey baked ham (recipe below). I slice up some Portuguese sweetbread that an old friend from the Azores brings us (recipe coming once I've successfully made it myself without any errors.) (It's really hard.) And we sit for maybe a half an hour of peace, talking just by ourselves.
When I was a kid, I don't think I really understood why we did it. I had already gotten my gifts from Santa and knew that we were rushing on to the next thing, so why not just have some toast and keep moving? But my mom insisted on making things nice, even it's it's only for us. And man, I can't tell you how much that has affected who I am as a person.
Holidays are awesome, and they can simultaneously be crazy, and kind of stressful. So it's important to savor the quiet moments with the people you love. Christmas breakfast has become one of my favorite parts of the holiday. Sharing everything with dozens of extended family is the best. It's fun, it's loud, it's a little irreverent, and I love it. But for a short time Christmas morning, I get to hang out with my mom and dad and be grateful for our little nuclear family, and it's easy. Why bake an entire ham for 3 people? Don't ask me. But I'm gonna do it forever.
Frankie's Honey Baked Ham
1 large spiral ham, honey or hickory smoked, fully cooked, pre-sliced
1 jar (6-8 oz) Dijon mustard
1 jar (6-8 oz) honey
Rinse ham and pat dry.'
Liquify mustard and honey together. Dad heats them in the microwave and says watch to make sure they don't boil over and use a dish towel to take them out. I say do it in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whatever.
Coat the ham with the sauce and lift each slice to get the liquid in between them. "Use a balloon injector or whatever you call it." According to my dad. Bake at 325 for 30 to 45 mins until heated through. Baste halfway through. Or for a little extra, pour some more honey over the top. Allow 10 minutes to rest, then serve and enjoy!
Merry Christmas!