We decided to stay in England this year for Christmas. We celebrated with friends of ours in Cambridge. Ironically, they are originally from Russia and they had friends from Russia visiting.
We hosted dinner Christmas Eve. In Texas, we would normally have tamales with Susie’s family. Keeping with the Tex-Mex food theme, Susie made enchiladas and I made two alarm chili. Fortunately for some of our guests, I used half the red pepper I normally used. We ended the night with marshmallows over the fire pit.
On Christmas day, our friends hosted the dinner. It was quite a grand occasion with the traditional mulled wine and spiced apple cider. The starters were Russian dishes which included potatoes, herring, and capers. There was quite a bit of mayonnaise along with beets and pickled red cabbage. For the main dish, we had a goose from Gog Magog Hills Farm. It and the potatoes cooked in goose fat were unbelievable.
After dinner, we relaxed, went for a walk (Cambridge was empty), and played charades. Dessert was definitely British with Minced Meat pies, a Christmas Pudding, and a chocolate log. I think most of us missed our pumpkin, apple, and pecan pies.