Hope you had a Merry Christmas. As you are reading this I am likely back at work at Texas Children’s…hospitals don’t close down for the holidays (I keep having to explain that to my family). I will be spending quite a bit of time on the road…drive 3 hours home on Wednesday night for Christmas…drive back to Houston for work on Friday…drive back home after work to spend another Christmas with my mom’s side of the family on Saturday. I will gladly do all of the traveling to spend as much time with family as possible.
My dad and I have a tradition on the day before Christmas. We make a HUGE pot of gumbo for our entire family for Christmas. We have a really big family. Here are some photos from 2012 and 2013 Christmas.
We use this large, seasoned cast iron pot to make the gumbo. This pot will be mine one day
We work on the roux for about an hour. It has to be just the right color before we can move on.
One of my very favorite traditions is our candy cane contest. I am pretty sure the adults started this when we were little to keep 13 kids quiet. We start the timer for 10 minutes and see who can make their candy cane the sharpest! My cousin Justin is usually the judge (even if he is biased!).
I absolutely love our big, loud family. Playing cards, dominos, and bingo leading up to a big pot of gumbo…I wouldn’t trade it for anything! Hope you all had a great Christmas and I wish you a very Happy New Year!
