Christmas is just around the corner! The kids have been asking me about our annual turkey since our Melaka trip so I decided to celebrate Christmas early this year. Here’s what we did for the festive season:
1. Christmas shopping
Yup, this is one of the highlights of my year. I went out with my better half to look at what we’ll be getting for our Christmas celebrations. I saw this really cool Glenfiddich mince pies. It’s made with their 12 year old expression of single malt Scotch whiskey.
They even have a Glenfiddich Whisky Cake!
2. Christmas turkey
This is a mainstay of our Christmas celebrations each year. The kids like to eat it and I like to roast it. It’s fun and it’s one of the things we look forward to.
Excuse the Islamic script, the turkey I bought is not haram this year. It’s called Midamar Turkey and despite coming from Iowa in the United States, it’s certified halal.
The turkey costs RM 348 and weighs 5.8 kg.
I used a roast chestnut, cranberry and apple stuffing for the turkey.
I stuffed our Christmas turkey and popped it into the oven…
…and we all ate it with slices of bread and jellied cranberry sauce.
Delicious!
3. Pistachio panettone
My dear chose our annual panettone. It was a choice between panettone filled with mascarpone cream, chocolate covered and filled, a pandoro, or a pistachio crumb covered panettone with pistachio cream filling. She chose the last one, it’s RM 132.50 for a 1 kg cake.
This is made by the good people at Flamigni, the individual panettone is actually made by hand in Italy before being filled with pistachio cream and topped with crushed pistachios. It’s described as “Panettone con Crema al Pistacchio ricoperto di Chocolato Bianco e Granella di Pistacchi” which translates to panettone with pistachio cream covered with white chocolate and chopped pistachios.
The kids loved it! The white chocolate topping holding the crushed nuts was sweet and the cream even more so. I was very happy with our panettone this year, it’s absolutely fabulous! I can eat it all year!
4. Christmas crackers
This is another one of our Christmas traditions. I’ll go with my dear and buy some crackers for the kids. If you’re not familiar with Christmas crackers, they’re meant to be pulled by two people after Christmas dinner and (traditionally) the person with the largest half gets to keep the party favor or gift inside. It makes a snap / bang when you pull it.
The kids really liked them when I first got it for Christmas so I thought I’ll get them every year. We always give the kids two crackers each and we’ll each have one.
I got a Happy Clapper from my cracker. Haha.
5. Family Christmas photo
This is something we’ll do each year, take a photo together after we’ve eaten our turkey dinner and opened our Christmas crackers.
The novelty paper hats are actually from the crackers. My better half printed the selfie props. This idea came from the stuff that came in last year’s Christmas crackers and we thought it’ll be fun to incorporate it into our annual festive photo. This year’s family Christmas picture has a “White Christmas” theme (coz we’re all wearing white).
We make it a point to celebrate Christmas with the kids every year. It has become “our” tradition with a turkey, Christmas crackers, panettone and a group photo. This is our 2015 family Christmas photo. Merry Christmas everyone! π
Merry Christmas to you and your family HB!
Thanks Ken! π
I love this post, not because of the huge delicious turkey but the way you went great miles to make everyone happy! Merry Christmas HB and all. May the New Year 2016 bring you sweet success and robust health so that you could continue to entertain us with your blogs.
Cheers! Ho Ho Ho Ho..!!
Yeah, I do the Christmas dinner and turkey every year! π
The kids like it and they’ve been looking forward to it. It’s a tradition that we do.
The CNY tradition is pretty cool too, we’ll have poon choy together. Cheers and all the best to you and your family too.
Good grief!!! That turkey must be huge, over RM300. Seen some here at the supermarkets, only a hundred something and yes, they do not look very big. Would be a good size for a family.
The kids obviously had a great time. A Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year, 2016, to you and all your loved ones. Cheers!!!
Yeah, it was quite large! π
I think we ate it over a few days, took quite a long time to finish as usual. The ones in Sibu are the 3 kg ones, we seldom see those sizes in KL anymore, for whatever reason. There was a time when the ministry said turkey would be price controlled (think it was last year) but it has never been so. Maybe not enough people eating and asking for it to be price controlled.
Gosh, I never knew that panettone could cost so much in KL! =O
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you, Ling and the kids! Hope the festive season brings nothing but more happiness and joy! ^^
There are cheaper ones too! π
This one was more expensive coz it was filled with pistachio cream and topped with white chocolate and crushed pistachios. The regular ones (with just fruit( would probably cost around RM 60-80 for a 1 kg one. Pandoro is about the same price, except for the premium brands, where it’ll be RM 300 for 1 kg too.
Have a merry & blessed Xmas. Happy and healthy 2106
Thanks James! π
Same to you, all the best to you and your loved ones.
A lovely celebration with the girls.
Christmas crackers? Dont think I see any in Kuching. Would love to buy that.
Not much of a Christmas eve dinner this year. No turkey. Just a simple homecooked dinner. π
Merry Christmas to you and family.
Thanks Rose! π
Yeah, they have quite a lot of Christmas crackers here. I think there’s a bigger demand in KL. I seldom see them in Sarawak too.
Cheers!
Wow…. it’s so fun there and there’s a turkey too! Looks so yummy and Merry Xmas to you guys!
Yup, it’s become an annual tradition! π
I roast a turkey every single year at Christmas. Likewise, Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Merry Christmas to you, your equal half and the lovely girls! What a great idea to make it a tradition to spend Christmas every year making memorable experience and taking a family photo.
Thanks Mun! π
Yeah, it’s fun to do it. My better half came up with the Christmas cutout this year coz last year the selfie props came from the Christmas crackers.
Very nice family photos you have there π
My eyes are all set on that turkey!! Yummy!
Thanks Hayley! π
I hope it’s not too late to wish you and your family Merry Christmas.
Honestly to say, I have yet to try turkey but seeing the way you’re preparing it seems pretty interesting to me. Love to try it someday
Nope, it’s never too late! π
It’s my second favorite holiday. My favorite would be Chinese New Year, which is coming up.
Yeah, the turkey is just something fun I do every year. The kids like it and it’s a good tradition to have.
It’s nice that you roast your own turkey. I usually will just pre-order it from somewhere else as I am not very good in all these.
Happy New Year to you HB.
I don’t mind roasting it, it’s fun! π
I think of it as my contribution to Christmas. Haha. Same to you too Merryn!
i’m sure u have the turkey for a few days…dinner, then for lunch the following day and leftovers for sandwiches…
most of my Christmas feast always have lotsa leftovers that was ‘re-cycled’ for the following days’ meal…
Haha! Yeah, it’s always a challenge to finish the turkey. π
We’ll have to eat it with everything, including rice, after Christmas. It’s still fun to do though, after all, it’s only once a year.
Merry Christmas and Happy 2016!
This year’s turkey is perfect. So yummylicious. βΊ
Thanks Kathy! π
Happy New Year to you and your family too.