It has begun.
I’ve done (I hope) all the grocery shopping for tomorrow evening’s dinner and I’ve made the filling for the yule log (it needs to chill.) I think I have the complete timed list of when everything happens in the kitchen such that I get to sit around for at least half an hour or so with friends and family to hear the latest news before I disappear into the kitchen to get dinner together and onto the table.

Tomorrow we get to find out if we really can fit 14 people around the dining room table. Well, I know we can do it, but will it be comfortable?
And will it have been a good idea to brown the beef tenderloin in the oven by applying a small amount of baking soda to lower the pH so it browns without searing? America’s Test Kitchen recommends it, and I can’t resist taking a gamble on it. ;)
Despite it all, I do love Christmas Eve dinner.