Christmas is a little subdued this year. Normally, there are a lot more people at my mom’s house in the Bay Area, but due to many reasons, two brothers are not here. That means that nieces and nephews are also not here. Usually, the house is full of people.

But that does not mean that we let things slide, or slack off. All the joy is still here. And the traditions carry on. My daughters, preparing the table.

Keep calm and Christmas on!

Okay, we are almost ready!

My mom, whom, I remind you, is 95-years-old, is ready to be served.

Time for some mood lighting.

Jessica and her husband, Jason, here from New York, enjoying the ambiance.

And we have ambiance aplenty.

Yeah we do.

We just needed the food.

Like the Yorkshire Puddings… not the big, single pan this time, but little, individual ones!

Mmmmmm… roast beef…

And potatoes, roasted in bacon fat… or not, if you prefer.

And, to finish it all off, a plum pudding, set tastefully alight with a high-octane adult beverage.

I have tried to explain plum pudding here before. Maybe you should just Google it.

It is an interesting English dish.

My favorite part of the plum pudding is the hard sauce, which my son-in-law and I whipped up before dinner.

It is just butter, powdered sugar, and booze… which explains the ‘hard’ in hard sauce. It takes a lot of stirring. But a pudding, soaked in booze and lit afire, and then covered in frosting made with more booze… oh yeah.

And there you have it, the perfect ending for a long Christmas day… if your relatives come from England… or even if they didn’t.