Cat + cold + insomnia = CHRISTMAS POST!

Apologies for the lack of blogging action lately, between the Holidays and gearing up for school, I've had my hands full. Oh, and I've been kind of unmotivated, so that factors in there as well.  I'll write more about that - motivation - shortly.
I seem to have caught one of the many, many nasty little bugs that has been floating around Northeast Ohio, and I'm pretty miserable.  Not as bad as what my boyfriend had, thank god, this is more cold than flu, but still.  (I'm fairly certain he had a mild form of the plague.)  Can't stop coughing and nothing tastes right, which is a real bummer.  Since I slacked around Thanksgiving, I made sure to properly document my mother's awesome adventures in the kitchen at Christmas, while still being 'in the moment'.  Also known as "I took a few pictures and then got lazy" but here ya' go:

My silly little fake tree.  Willie is investigating.  (My house.)

Parent's house, Christmas 2013

We had tea.

My mom collects Christmas "smokers"

We played board games.

We stopped keeping score because my mom always smokes us at trivia games.

More decorations.

The table.

Forgive the horrible lighting, all pictures taken on my phone.

Oxtail soup, which is phenomenal, and a total treat.  Takes FOREVER to make.

Brussel sprout salad.

Escargot.  She made mine with olive oil which was actually pretty awesome!  Yeah, not the buttery delight of the typical preparation, but seriously good.  

Horrible picture, but lobster thermidor, obviously not for me. 

I even put on "grown up" clothes.  Grudgingly. 

Yeah, that's a Christmas apron.

I had exactly two drinks.  Once glass of red, and one glass of this amazing ice wine.  My mother knows my weaknesses.

I stopped taking pictures of the food after the first few courses.  We had smoked pheasant, well, I had smoked pheasant. Since I couldn't have the lobster course, which pretty much filled everyone to the point of no return, I had unfettered access to the bird.  Which I devoured.  NOM.  Dessert was a red wine mousse and coffee and ice wine.  Yes, I had dessert.  Yes, I had a glass of ice wine.  Yes, I wanted to drink the entire bottle.  

I took a few pictures of the presents, not many.  I gave my mother two Le Creuset things, one casserole dish and a baking dish.  A book on Frank Gehry.  Boyfriend sent them two nice bottles of wine and this really neat dual wine chiller.  Dad got a bottle of Remy Martin XO and a book of classic PGA shots, which he seemed to enjoy.  

It was a really, really nice evening.  I would definitely classify dinner (dessert and wine, specifically) as a treat meal but it was well worth it.

I'm also glad that the Holidays are over and things are going back to what passes for normal around here.  I start school in a week, which means I really need to live up my last week of "stay at home Michelle".  I have a rough outline of my weekly schedule, and it's not bad.  I'm taking classes Tuesday/Thursday, pretty much all day.  I reworked my split, and did a little tinkering to my food plan to accommodate the scheduling changes.  I'm also giving serious consideration to competing next year.  2015 next year.  It's a huge commitment of both time and energy and I want to make sure that I'm fully prepared for what it entails before I make that decision.  

Hope everyone has a wonderful 2014!  2013 was not kind to so many of my friends and loved ones and honestly, I'm glad to see it go.  Oh, and I was in bed at 9:30pm on NYE, cause I'm super awesome like that.  My parents?  Up until 2:00am.  My parents are cooler than I am, but that's not news.  

Mid-February can't come fast enough.