Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included Christmas celebrations and a short family vacation. You’ll find all of the highlights from the past few days, along with each of our dinners, in today’s roundup of Our Week in Meals.
For those of you who are new to the blog, Our Week in Meals is where I share a little bit about what we’ve been up to over the past week — as it relates to our dinners each night. This series gives you a glimpse “behind the scenes” at some highlights from our life, shows you how I balance a busy schedule with feeding my family, and offers a few new ideas for your own weekly meal plan.
This Week’s Meals
Now, let’s back up to last weekend…
I met three of my friends for a walk at Mollie’s farm on Sunday morning (it wasn’t even 20 degrees out there!).
That afternoon, we had lunch in Charlottesville at the Dairy Market food court (burrito bowl and a candy cane Oreo ice cream cone for me!).
Then Keith and the older boys went to the UVA basketball game, while Spencer and I did some shopping at Barnes & Noble.
For supper, we had Dr. Pepper pulled pork,
which I paired with a loaf of no-knead Dutch oven bread, frozen waffle fries, and coleslaw.
Shall we chat about books? This week I read a historical fiction that was recommended to me by a blog reader: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. This novel about the plague, set in a small English village in 1666, is so beautifully written. It’s the story of how a year of great sorrow and hardship could turn into great beauty and hope. It was heavy and sad in many parts, but also hopeful and joyful by the end.
Preparing to be gone all day on Tuesday, I spent Monday getting the food ready for Christmas.
I assembled both a green bean casserole and Aunt Bee’s easy potato casserole, cooked some bacon and made the dressing for a winter salad, washed and cut fruit for a fruit salad, and baked a coconut cream poke cake.
We went to the Christmas Eve-Eve candlelight service at church that evening, so I planned a dinner that would be ready and waiting for us when we got home: slow cooker chili,
and a skillet of cast iron cornbread.
On Tuesday, we hopped in the car to drive a couple of hours north to spend the day with Keith’s side of the family. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate. Thanks to freezing rain, the roads were icy and dangerous. About 45 minutes into our drive, we saw many, many accidents and flipped over vehicles, and ultimately decided to turn around and go home. It wasn’t worth the risk!
Instead, we had a quiet day at the house. We worked on our most recent puzzle, and got out for a walk once the rain stopped.
Since our plans changed and we were suddenly home for supper, I threw together a meal based on what we had on hand: frozen pizzas and a house salad with candied pecans — followed by Christmas cookies and the movie The Holiday.
It wasn’t our most exciting Christmas Eve, but we were happy to be safe and warm at home!
Wednesday was Christmas!
Spencer woke everyone up nice and early to open stockings and see what Santa delivered.
We had cinnamon rolls, bacon, and fresh fruit for breakfast, and then my parents arrived late morning.
We opened more gifts, and sat down for a holiday lunch. I served a double batch of sliders (like these), but made some with a local country ham, some with honey ham, and others with smoked turkey.
On the side, we had Christmas pickles (from my neighbor Fannie) and lemon-stuffed olives (from Mollie), bbq potato chips, and a winter salad with orange vinaigrette.
And for dessert: coconut cream poke cake!
My aunt and uncle stopped by mid-afternoon for some cookies and gifts. This tray included fruit cake that my neighbor makes for Yoder’s, Ashley’s pecan bars, soft peanut butter blossoms, and soft gingerbread men. It doesn’t get much better!
It was just the 5 of us for Christmas dinner, and I served the meal that my mom makes every year: grilled beef tenderloin (a fav with the boys!),
Aunt Bee’s 3-ingredient easy potato casserole,
green bean casserole with frozen green beans,
and my Uncle Brian’s cranberry relish with Grand Marnier. The perfect end to a fun, exhausting day!
Thursday morning was devoted to cleaning up and getting our house back together after the holiday.
When the sun came out after lunch, we took advantage of the warmer weather and went to hit golf balls.
I made fried chicken tenders for dinner that night, which we paired with carrot sticks and cucumber slices with ranch dip, as well as waffle fries. Plus leftover coconut cake for dessert!
On Friday morning we made the short trip over to Bath County for a quick getaway at The Homestead Resort in Hot Springs.
Fried chicken and wraps for lunch at The Tavern at the Inn at Warm Springs.
So cozy!
We didn’t bring our clubs, but we did get out for a walk on the golf course before taking a break for hot cocoa indoors.
The Homestead’s holiday decorations were beautiful!
Since we had Teddy with us, he wasn’t allowed in the restaurants at the resort. For dinner that night, Keith took the boys to Jefferson’s Taproom, while Teddy and I waited in the lobby, listened to live music, and went for a short walk.
They brought my dinner to-go: Caesar salad, Brunswick stew, and cornbread. I loved every bite!
An apple cinnamon coffee crumb cake and a maple latte from Martha’s Market to start off my Saturday…
Keith and Casey wanted to swim (or float?) in the historic Warm Spring Pools (originally built in 1761),
so while they did that, the rest of us walked around the town of Warm Springs.
The sun came out and it turned into a beautiful, warm day!
After lunch at the Milk House Market at the Old Dairy Farm, we made our way back home to Madison.
This was “The Potomac” — a combination of ham, brie, green apple, and grainy mustard. Such a great combo! Plus bbq Route 11 potato chips on the side (which we’ve all deemed the absolute best you can buy).
Once home, I pulled together a quick, crowd-pleasing dinner: mac and cheese with ground beef (my mom’s “chuck wagon mac”), 3-ingredient buttermilk biscuits, and steamed broccoli.
So there you have it, friends — a week full of holiday celebrations, family time, and really good food! I hope that you are enjoying this “week in between” with your friends and family, too. Thanks for being here, and have a wonderful Sunday!
Thank you so much for all the pictures of The Homestead, it’s on my bucket list to visit there.
Uncle Brian’s cranberry relish sounds yummy, perhaps you can share the recipe?
Thank you! Ann M.
Thanks, Ann. The Homestead is definitely worth the trip. It’s beautiful at any time of year — but especially in the fall and when it’s decorated for the holidays.
Yes, I’ll share the cranberry relish recipe, but probably not until the fall of 2025, since that’s when it will be “seasonal” again. 🙂
Thank you, Blair!!
Beautiful pictures! Great that you turned around and went home. So many take the chance and regret it. Teddy looked so cute as usual. Hope you all have a Happy New Year!!!
Thanks, Melody! Teddy was just so happy to be including in the trip. 🙂 Happy New Year!
I haven’t been to the Homestead in years. We use to take the girls every February to ski, ice skate, and ride horses or in the horse drawn carriage, and bowl ( they use to have a full size regulation sized bowling alley by the indoor pool). We went once in the summer but since we don’t play tennis or golf, we decided to keep our visits to the winter.
However… the entire family is going in
3 weeks. We are going for the tubing, skiing, and ice skating, so hopefully the slopes will have enough manmade snow on them!!
I don’t think the ski area is open yet… was it?
Was the ice skating rink open?
Sounds like most of your activities were done in the surrounding area. What Homestead activities did you do and what are your thoughts about them? We will be staying there and doing their activities. It’s been a long time since being there and wondering what has changed.
However, …. we will have enough snow to spend most of our time doing the outside winter activities.
The boys swam in the indoor pool, did the warm springs pool, played pool in the garden room, and went to the arcade (both were hits). They were most interested in the golf course, so we spent a good amount of time out there on Friday. The ice skating was open, but my boys weren’t interested. The ski slope/tubing appeared to be open, although it was relatively warm and it rained over night, so I’m guessing the “snow” was a muddy mess by Saturday. We probably would have tried the falconry or the shooting if we were there another day, but we didn’t get to those. We also love hiking at Lake Moomaw, but that’s a drive outside of the resort. You’ll have a great time — there are so many fun options!
Glad it seems like it’s still the “old” Homestead like when we use to go.
Sallie and Sadie did Falconry when we went to the Greenbrier 3 years ago. I think they liked it.
The main reason we are going is the skiing. The NC granddaughters have never skied. Will just once or maybe more.. I figured it being a small ski area it’s the best one to learn on. And if they don’t like it, they can just hop on the van to go back to the hotel. No driving needed.
But we really do need snow!!!
Yes, fingers crossed for snow!
Last sentence was suppose to have
“ Fingers Crossed” we have snow for skiing and tubing!!
What a wonderful week Blair! Although icy roads, and seeing cars flipped over would definitely be disconcerting. Hope people in those cars were o.k.
I love the mugs in the background photo of the cinnamons rolls. By any chance, do you have a link for those? I’d love to order those for my husband’s family.
Have a great week!
Hi, Renee! Thank you! The mugs are from the Hearth and Hand line by Magnolia at Target. Unfortunately, I bought them a few years ago and they don’t seem to be available anymore. This year’s version was kind of similar, but even those are gone from the Target website now. 🙁 I’d check next December and see if they release them again!
Thank you. No wonder the mugs look familiar-I probably saw them at Target, when I was looking at their Magnolia section. I love that section of the store!
A belated Merry Christmas to you all…have been involved in those freezing rain storms in the south while living in Lexington and working in Staunton and like you seeing the devastation they can cause decided it wasn’t worth the ‘what could happen’…they happen here as well but whiteouts are more likely..as always thanks for all the wonderful photos of The Homestead such a beautiful area in every season…and all the special recipes…so from the Frozen North (although we are having a ‘warm’ spell at the moment) we wish your family a very Happy New Year and one that will bring God’s blessings to you all…
Yes, the icy roads do not mix well with rolling hills at the base of the mountains and in the valley! Hope you’re enjoying that warm spell this week. It’s nice to get a break from all of the Canadian snow, I’m sure. Happy New Year, Wendy!
Love Your News Letters!I Just Broke my left Leg and Shoulder – so need to read some good news and enjoy your pictures and recipes!!!
Thank you, Mayris! I’m so sorry to hear about your injuries. Hang in there! It makes me happy to know that I can share a little bright spot with our photos and food! 🙂
Hi Blair – Happy New Year to you and your family! Loved all of the photos this week. Such beautiful decorations where you all stayed.
Have a great week!
Thank you, Tylene! Happy New Year to you and yours as well!
Blair… this was an especially nice post (they all are nice) to close out the year with. Thank you for all the recipes over this year and the many others… you are my primary source for recipes of the several cooking blogs that I look at… so many of your recipes on the repeat and enjoy list… watching the boys grow over the years.
Question… your photography is always so nice… what do you use for a camera? I’m an amateur photo enthusiast… I own probably way too many cameras/lenses.
Happy New Year to you all!
You are so kind, Scott. I appreciate you reading the blog and trying my recipes!
For all of the landscape photos and photos of my kids, I just use my iPhone 13 pro. It’s what I always have on hand, so it’s most convenient! For the food photography, I use a Nikon D850 with this 24-70mm f 2.8 lens. I have other lenses (like a 50 mm, 100 mm, etc., but this is the one I always end up using). Let me know if you have any other questions, and happy New Year!