Merry Christmas, From a Thanksgiving Boy, You Wish You Were Us

I don't like Christmas but I made cookies, we had a strip roast my kid got a bike!

Christmas isn’t my favorite.

I think it is Thanksgiving but hyper-injected with consumerism. There is love around it but on Thanksgiving you also don’t have to spend $400 on cards to prove to your family and friends you had a nice year. Don’t get anyone anything and buy people stuff when it strikes, not on a specific day because you have to.

Anyway…

I will also admit, I ruined Christmas.

I was so close to the finish line. Dad was gone. Brother was gone. Niece and nephew were gone. It was just my wife and I. And just before I got across the line I ruined everything.

“When I die, I hope the memory of me isn’t some dumb Christmas bullshit, I’d like for it to be an actual meaningful moment.”

My wife and I sparred for awhile and ultimately her point is correct, “Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean you can ruin it for other people.”

Which is the main point.

You take the 30,000 foot view and it isn’t just Christmas, I also think 4th of July sucks. But I never bad mouth Valentine’s Day, which is probably rooted in loving my wife and my mom’s birthday being the day before. I love doing dinner with my wife. I love doing something for my mom.

Why should Christmas be any different?!

Which, I guess, goes back to my, “I don’t like being told what to do,” lifetime situation.

Yes, that is what my notebook looks like because no one tells me what lines to write on.

I love my kid, wife, mother, father, niece and nephew. I will get them anything they want, when they want it. I just don’t like being told I have to do it at this day. Getting my kid a bike on a Monday and then giving it to her 6 days later because that day is Christmas doesn’t make a ton of sense to me.

However, we did have a nice Christmas dinner.

We are truly a family of full setup placemats, chargers, plates and the whole deal. We also love to have a good beverage, wine and whiskey, usually. Mix in a beer and now you’ve got a Felder party. Add in some monogrammed glasses and ooooh baby.

And dinner was amazing. So here is what I did for dinner:

Fresh baked rolls with garlic butter and sea salt. Double fried fries. Steamed broccoli with a cheese sauce. Shrimp cocktail with a homemade roasted tomato spicy cocktail sauce.

And the centerpiece was the steak.

How it started…

And then…

And then…

And then…

For the steak I scored it and then covered it in a butter creamed with bourbon, brown sugar, garlic, rosemary and jalapeno.

2 sticks of softened butter

Fistful of rosemary

6 cloves garlic

2 jalapenos

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup bourbon

S&P

Food processor that all together and then slather that on the roasts.

Put that in a bag with each section of roast, I had to cut it into thirds because that is how much of a 16 pound steak fits into a gallon ziploc. Did that on the 23rd and flipped them whenever I was in the kitchen.

Be sure to take them out on Christmas morning because if you’re going to cook them for dinner they do need to be closer to room and that big meat is going to take some time to get to temp.

Cooked one to rare-plus and another to medium to make everyone happy. Great outside char and flavor. Super moist inside. Wet, if you will.

By the time my dad carved up dinner I was too faded to take pics. Also too proud to ask my wife or my sister-in-law to document for me. But they came out fantastic. Dinner was a hit.

You’ll hear more about it on Hand in the Dirt for this week. Christmas was a hit. The kid got a bike and an easel. We had brunch. We had a great dinner. Merry Christmas, don’t let me, a grinch, steal your shine. We’re going to get into the playoff in the next post but had to get that Christmas covered.

Will hit on that cocktail sauce soon too because I truly think it is something worth making on your own. Especially if you like it hot.

Cheers!