A Merry Christmas and happy holiday to everyone.  I thought I’d pass on one of our holiday traditions.  On Christmas Eve the Mrs. and I settle into a cooking frenzy in anticipation of Christmas brunch and our annual Christmas Eve dinner – mac & cheese and hotdogs.  After making a breakfast casserole for the next day we toil on a gourmet mac and cheese dish with a garnish of hot dogs.

This was born, as all good traditions are, out of a unique event that became a signature dish for the Mrs. and I when we were first married.  Our first Christmas together we couldn’t find anything tempting for dinner in the larder.  On a whim, the Mrs. decided she was craving mac & cheese.  I can’t stand mac & cheese from a box without a hotdog to cut that cheese (yes, I appreciate the irony of using fake meat to deal with fake cheese).  The next year we successfully found a better recipe for mac & cheese and we’ve used it ever since.

Whatever your traditions are, I hope they strengthen familiar bonds and give the holidays the warm glow of happiness.