Roast Beast - take 2

Though we rarely repeat a TND, last year's Roast Beast while watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas has become a cult icon in our group. So with two days to prepare, we convinced Chris to make his flower pot roast again (all three words necessary in that dish's name) and divied out the potatoes, carrots, asparagus, and bread amongst the rest of us. Here's Chris carving the finished roast - which took all day to cook:

The meal was excellent, to say the least. All of our idyllic memories of last year were well-founded. We accompanied the roast with baked asparagus, two variations on roasted potatoes and carrots, and rolls. We also enjoyed some very nice wine that Eric contributed. Some wine and then some roast...never-ending double fist pump.

Oh, I would be remiss to leave out that we also had a guest at our dinner: Eric's brother Ben from Georgia. We had great dinner conversation sharing all of the interesting things Eric has said, which then turned into a retelling of all the interesting things any of us have ever said or done. We circulated through stories of mismatched shoes, national holidays in other countries, and pears.

After dinner, we revisited another memorable Christmas activity from last year: Christmas cookie decorating. Lyndee and I mixed the frosting colors while everyone else cleaned up (our evil plan worked!) and then we all set to work. Santa, beakers, business socks, reindeer, snow flakes, and Christmas trees all surfaced. There were also quite a few "abstract" cookies:) To see pictures, visit Grace's picasa album - there were too many to post.

Before the night ended, we took these group/family pictures in front of the Christmas tree. The only thing missing was my Grandma Warnock instructing my dad to stop goofing off and smile. It seems we didn't need her: