It was the Night before Christmas and The House was Definitely Stirring

Awe Christmas time. This is one of my favorite times of the year, mainly due to our family tradition. We celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, which started back when my family was trying to make sure that both sets of Grandparents received some quality time over the holidays. Besides, I’m sure Santa doesn’t mind getting an early start.

Today, that tradition still carries on. Nice since instead of grandparents, I have in-laws (We need to spread the love…it’s only fair).

The tradition pretty much goes as follows. Laura and I drive in to Indy early on the 24th. About 2:00pm, our family picks a wine from Walt’s Cellar, takes great care in opening, and then let decant until dinner (pay attention to when we eat dinner & drink THIS wine). At that time, we follow up making sure we pick out at least a few extra bottles for dinner and desert (picked the last of the Chateau Voigny).

After a bottle of good but inexpensive wine, we head to church as a family (after all it is Christmas), come back and start the parade of wine and food. The menu starts out with some appetizers like cheese crackers. The main courses are spread out and contain crab legs (a yearly must) and some sort of meat (in this case a beef tenderloin).

The best part though is spending time with my family and tasting bottle after bottle of fantastic wine. It is not uncommon for us to go through 8 bottles in a single night (which gives my blog a ton of content). And as you can guess from my last side comment, I will be reviewing most of the bottles. The list looks a lot like (dates and links to follow):

• Moet & Chandon White Star
• Chalone Vineyard Chardonnay
• Meursault Chardonnay
• Louis Jadot Puligny-Montrachet
• Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillon Saint Julien 1982 (Wine of the Year in 1982)
• Folly Pinot Noir
  
• Layer Cake Argentina
• Chateau Voigny

Even though we start at 2:00 pm, the whole night still takes us until about midnight (some nights longer), which the tenderloin being served around 9:00pm (Ya, that means that the decanted wine was decanting for around 6 hours). You can see why it is one of my favorite times of the year. Great food and wine, and even better company….you can’t beat it.