Well, not really.  It's about family, and celebration, and being with the ones you love in the deep, dark days of winter (hah!  In the 70's and sunny here on Christmas Day!).  But, for a family as food-oriented as ours, it's also All About The Food. 

This year, there was a little bit of a changing of the guard in the cooking department.  Instead of me being the Major Chef, the duties and pleasures were spread around a little. 

Starting with Christmas Eve Dinner.  Our son being home for the holidays from New York City, where he currently resides, offered to fix Christmas Eve Dinner for us.  He and his father went off a-hunting to the new Whole Foods Market down on Sixth Street in Austin, where he'd not had the opportunity to go on previous visits.   Hours later they returned, laden with the fruits of their labors, and DS set to work. 

After much chopping and stirring and mixtures of potions and such, we sat down to dinner.  First course, a smooth and creamy and entirely elegant Fresh Fennel Vichyssoise.  This was followed in due course by Baked Pork Chops With Parmesan-Sage Crust served on a bed of Asparagus Risotto with finely chopped shitake mushrooms.  The food was superb, and I declare myself entirely outclassed in the presentation department.

Then, the next morning, after the suitably enthusiastic (if more moderately paced than in times past when there were little ones to demand 4:30 a.m. Christmas Morn wakenings) traditional Opening of the Presents, we dressed and went over to our daughter's home.  (She had come and stayed the night at our house to share Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning with us and her brother.)  There, her SO had volunteered to prepare the main dish, a lovely Bourbon Glazed Baked Ham.  My contribution consisted of some mashed sweet potatoes, seasoned with butter and brown sugar and ground ginger and cinnamon (my attempt to replicate the heavenly baked sweet potato I had recently at B-B's Home Cooking on Williams Drive in Georgetown) and Kale braised in V-8 with onions and various Addictive Alkaloids.  Our daughter made the traditional Pink Stuff (don't ask) from her grandmother's recipe.  Champagne (and Scotch) were provided by her SO's father who'd come down for the holiday.  And I'd brought hot pork tamales from the office, purchased from the Tamale Lady who sells them this time of year.   

Following yet more Opening of the Presents, Round 2, dinner was served alfresco, out on the deck (did I mention 70's and sunny?) overlooking the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve. 

Not exactly the chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose Christmas, but a pretty good Texas traditional Christmas, nonetheless! 

And, there were lots of leftovers!