My entire family gathered in Florida to celebrate the holidays. Christmas is about the only time that my generation gets to see each other as we travel from Texas, Colorado and North Carolina. This year we were glad to welcome some new family to the celebration – Eli, my cousin Callie’s girlfriend, their dog Bodhi and of course my pup Winston. 

Everyone celebrated Christmas Eve on my parents backyard  patio, grilled pizza and exchanged crappy Christmas gifts (a Thompson tradition). I’ll post some of the best and worst gifts tomorrow.  We came together again on Christmas Day for a more traditional meal (by traditional I mean formal not turkey and fixings). I’ll post the festivities and the recipes in the next weeks.