Get Merry!

A couple of years ago Mollie and I decided to host our favorite ladies

 for a festive kick-off to the holiday season. 

It has become a tradition!

We have our "Get Merry with Mimosas" brunch on the first Saturday in December. 

This way we can catch up with everyone before the day and the season gets too busy.

I highly recommend it. 

Brunch food is fun and easy- we do a brunch charcuterie board

 and everyone helps themselves.

 Plus minimal cooking!

We get the house clean and decorated by the first of December

 and then we just enjoy the rest of the month!

 :) When I started looking through the photos for this blog post I realized we never got the cheddar cheese out!! No one ever asked about the sign without any cheese!!

 Mollie and I plan the charcuterie board components in advance

 and I make up the little signs the night before.

 It's supposed to keep us from forgetting anything!! 

Our pickier eaters have said they like that everything is labeled and doesn't touch!! 

But if you want some serious charcuterie board inspo (where it ALL touches) then check out @ainttoproudtomeg on IG!! #goals

 I took these before everyone arrived and it was pouring soooo hard.

 The light wasn't great but it's a simple set up on the island.

I use gift wrap as my "runner" and top it with a huge breadboard.

 This year I ran a strand of small globe lights around the board. 

We just gather our favorite blue and white dishes, rattan trays, vintage cake stands and other favorites from around the house.

We usually have 3 or 4 cheeses, ham, prosciutto, salami, and candied bacon.

There's fresh fruit, candied lemon and orange slices, ground mustard, mayonnaise, 

TJ cranberry relish and strawberry jelly. 

Fresh croissants from the bakery and 

 GF bagels from TJ with whipped cream cheese and cinnamon sugar cream cheese.

I made GF sausage balls (best recipe so far!) and the empty trivet in the picture above was waiting for GF hash brown casserole to come out of the oven. I made it the night before and I made an extra one for us to "test." It was so good. Tasted just like, or better maybe, than the canned soup version!

We tried to "class up" the OJ with a silver champagne bucket! :)

And look at that big silver beauty of a champagne "tub" - easily hold 3 bottles!

I found it at Goodwill a week ago for $10.00. It was practically black but I figured it was worth the $10.00 to see if it would polish up!

It came out beautifully - not a scratch on it!! I guess someone got tired of polishing it!

We added strawberries, pomegranate seeds and cranberry juice to the regular line up of OJ and bubbly!

We love BRUNCH. And we love this tradition! 

And in case you are wondering about the exact definition of Brunch...

Both of these made me laugh!

From Urban Dictionary: Contraction of breakfast and lunch, usually occurring around the hour of 11 a.m. Typically reserved for snobs and biddies who like tea and jam.

And from Wikepedia: Brunch is a combination of breakfast and lunch eaten usually during the late morning to early afternoon, generally served from 10am up to 2pm, and regularly has some form of alcoholic drink (most usually champagne or a cocktail) served with it. The word is a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch.

We just hosted a brunch and we didn't see any "biddies"

 but there was definitely "some form of alcoholic drink!"

And bonus points if you can work the word "portmanteau" into a sentence this week!