Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas! We headed up to Sidney's grandparents' house for a family breakfast. Once there, I found some baked brie with pepper jelly and bread.

Brie not really being my thing, I gravitated more toward the cinnamon rolls.

In fact, I couldn't resist taking one. I mean, just look at this thing! How could anyone resist this?

Answer: no one could ever resist this.

And since everyone was drinking mimosas, I filled a glass with orange juice to not feel left out.

In reality, I just wanted a glass of Simply Orange with Mango. This stuff is like the best juice ever.

I'm sure I could drink about 10 of these bottles. It's that good. And I would regret nothing.

I then found an interesting dessert tray. I sample the left most thingies, the middle thingies, and the right most thingies.

It was then time for the main attraction. The real reason everyone likes this Christmas morning get together is the Eggs Benedict. Sure, spending time with family is nice, but these are the best Eggs Benedict we're talking about here. They really speak for themselves:

But in case you can't hear them, what they're saying is that they're made with the best English muffins, the best Canadian bacon, and the best hollandaise sauce.

After my first one, I went back for a second one.

But as good as they were, I wanted to be done after two since I knew that Sidney and I would be going to dinner with my parents later in the day.

But, it somehow happened that there was an extra one that somehow no one wanted. Presented with this prospect, and the fact that everyone knows me only as the bro that never gets full, I was the one tasked with eating it. So I did. I had three Eggs Benedict, which is a surprisingly filling meal.

When we eventually arrived at my parents' house, I found a tub of cookies that my dad had made.

I had a couple, but I didn't want to spoil my dinner. And though I never want to spoil my dinner, this was especially true tonight. In honor of A Christmas Story, my parents and my favorite Christmas movie, we decided to start a new tradition a few years ago. Instead of making the traditional Christmas dinner with turkey, ham, or whatever else people like to eat on Christmas, we go to Hong's Buffet. This is also our favorite Chinese buffet. So, just as the Parkers ate at a Chinese restaurant on Christmas, so we do as well.

I loaded up two plates to the mad right from the beginning to eliminate down time traveling to and from the buffet.

I got so much food, and everything was so good, as always. This was one plate:

And this was the other:

After these two plates, I was both full and satisfied. I went back for my customary ice cream cone.

This is definitely one of my favorite parts of eating at Hong's. Some people don't like the stiff and slightly grainy texture of the ice cream, but I think it's just wonderful. It's the perfect consistency to build masterpieces. I've been coming to Hong's for around 8 years, and it's still as good as always.

When we got home, it was just about time for the Chiefs game to start. After a good first half, everyone was in good spirits. We celebrated the good first half with some Oreo/chocolate chip cookie brownies at halftime.

Doesn't that look downright stunning?? Yes. But just wait until you see what's inside.

What's inside is two Oreos with a chocolate chip cookie in between those. Then brownie batter is poured around all of that and baked in an muffin pan. After they were done baking, they were covered with a deliciously smooth chocolate ganache.

After the Chiefs won the game (a great Christmas present), we celebrated with another one of those cookie/brownie delights.

And that's the proper end to a proper Christmas. There was wonderful family time, wonderful food, and a Chiefs win. Merry Christmas to all!