Holiday highlights part 3

I was delighted that our niece's daughters didn't wake up super early on Christmas morning.  We actually got to sleep until 8:30.  I slid the 2 breakfast casseroles I'd made in advance into the oven so they could heat up while we opened gifts.

After the gifts we had the breakfast casseroles which were a big hit!  Here's how I made them:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Empty a 2 lb bag of tater tots into a greased baking dish
2. Cut fully cooked sausage links into bite size pieces and toss pieces in a bowl with real maple syrup so that all pieces are covered.
3. Spread syrup coated sausage pieces over tater tots
4. Sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese, as much as you want
5. Mix 18 extra large eggs, 1 cup half-n-half, salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder in a bowl until fully blended.  Pour over contents of baking dish.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Later that day Louis & Karen and my aunt Mary came over to visit.

Around 4:00 we had Christmas dinner.  Spouse's sister made most of the food in advance which really made it nice for her on Christmas day.  She made chicken parmesian, eggplant parmesian, gnocchi, ziti, meatballs, Italian sausage, and stuffed shells!  It was an Italian smorgasbord!!  For dessert we had aunt Mary's hummingbird cake and assorted cookies, brownies, bark, cakes, and chocolates.

For the 3rd year in a row, our nephews made a short film for the family.  The 1st one was a spoof on the MTV show 'Made', the 2nd one was a spoof on a product infomercial, and this year's film was a spoof on the TV show 'Bar Rescue'.  We watched all 3 films in a row, and there was no shortage of laughter.  Then we all just hung out and enjoyed being together, including some silliness.

 With no nap that day, Marvin & Walter were exhausted and climbed up into my lap for a nap.

It was a very nice holiday!  We went home the next day.