Our Week in Meals #476

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week was full of friends, family, good food, and Christmas cheer. 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.

Now, let’s back up to last weekend…

On Sunday morning, I did some baking to prep for Christmas: a cake mix coffee cake that I stashed in the freezer to enjoy on Thursday…

…and a batch of the best soft cut-out sugar cookies for the kids to decorate.

That afternoon, I went to a cookie exchange party and brought a tray of chewy oatmeal cranberry cookies, soft peanut butter blossoms and M&M chocolate chip cookies to share with friends.

We wrapped gifts, watched a lot of football, and had roast chicken and vegetables with rice and (boxed) mac and cheese for supper.

The boys were home from school on Monday for the official start of their Christmas break!

Keith and Gibbs went to a UVA basketball game that evening, while I stayed home with the younger two boys. We had taco soup (thawed from the freezer)…

…with a side of chicken quesadillas, tortilla chips, and guacamole.

Tuesday morning!

Keith and the older boys took advantage of a 60-degree day and played a round of golf, while Spencer and I joined my parents for lunch at Grill 309 in Culpeper. We had the chicken salad sandwich and soup combo, onion rings, a patty melt, chicken and waffles, and chicken souvlaki…

And, at Spencer’s request, we stopped in The Frenchman’s Corner for a box of chocolate truffles afterwards.

The gingerbread house was his favorite!

Our church had its Christmas Eve-Eve services that evening, so I planned an easy dinner that I could prep in advance and assemble quickly when we returned home afterwards. On the menu: shrimp rolls, plus potato chips, pickles, and fruit.

Wednesday was another beautiful, warm day!

We drove up to Northern Virginia that morning to spend Christmas Eve with Keith’s parents and brothers.

My in-law’s served a delicious bbq lunch complete with pulled pork, pulled chicken, brisket, mac and cheese, baked beans, salad, ambrosia, and more.

There was also a very competitive game of soccer with the cousins…

We made it home in time for a late supper: pasta with spaghetti sauce (that I thawed from the freezer), along with garlic bread and salad.

Santa came on Thursday!

Before diving into gifts, we had a quick Christmas breakfast of cinnamon rolls (from my friend Ashley), the cake mix coffee cake that I baked earlier in the week…

…plus candied bacon, cream cheese sausage balls (reheated from the freezer), and fruit salad.

My parents arrived later that morning. I kept lunch simple with ham and cheese sliders,

as well as potato chips, cut-up veggies with homemade ranch dip,

and a tray of Christmas cookies (specifically, soft peanut butter blossoms, M&M chocolate chip cookies, soft cut-out sugar cookies, and Williamsburg gingerbread).

My aunt and uncle visited for the afternoon, and then we enjoyed our favorite holiday supper: grilled beef tenderloin,

spinach casserole,

twice baked potatoes,

Uncle Brian’s fresh cranberry relish,

dinner rolls, and a winter salad with orange vinaigrette.

My niece made a chocolate bundt cake (with cake mix) for their dessert in Florida, which would also be a great treat for New Year’s Eve!

Friday was a day to get organized and cleaned up after the holiday. Adria came over for an early walk…

…and then we headed to Charlottesville for some errands. Spencer wanted to use a gift card, and we also had a shopping list at Costco. Lunch in the cafe!

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up the house, catching up on laundry, etc. By the time supper rolled around, I was so happy to have plenty of leftovers to pull out of the fridge. We finished off the sliders, salad, and chips from the day before, pulled out a crab dip and pimento cheese dip from Costco, and made sandwiches with the extra tenderloin.

And then it was Saturday…

Keith and Gibbs spent the day on the golf course, while I got some work done in the kitchen and went over to Adria’s farm for a walk.

I met Snowflake, her two-week-old bottle-fed calf. So cute!!

Date night at Grass Rootes in Culpeper! With the fireplace in the center of the restaurant, it’s such a cozy spot at this time of year.

We shared an enormous plate of ahi tuna “nachos” with fried wontons for an appetizer (it was incredibly good!), and I ordered the salmon Caesar salad for my entree.

So there you have it, friends — another week of dinners to wrap up 2025! I hope that you’ve found something new to add to your own table in the days ahead. Thank you for being here, have a wonderful Sunday, and I’ll see you in the New Year!