Thursday, November 15, 2007

Christmas - Sweet P Style

Chookyblue asked us to share what we do for Christmas, what we eat, etc. So here I am to tell you my story.

My youngest memory of Christmas is sitting up waiting for my godmother to come to our house at midnight after she got off her shift at the coffee shop at the hospital. By then we had been to candlelight service at church and I was in my warmest jammies (I grew up in Minnesota) waiting for Santa Claus to arrive. When my godmother arrived my mom served oyster stew and hot dogs (for me). My godmother always brought the coolest presents that were wrapped in the neatest ways. It was often more fun to open the present than the present itself.

Fast forward to my first Christmas away from family. I was 22 years old, married and had 3 young boys. We were living in Orlando, FL and I was so bummed because there was no snow and it was 80 degrees. I was trying to define a tradition that would become our own. Since there were 5 of us I took 5 slips of paper and wrote a part of a meal on each slip - appetizer, main dish, vegetable, beverage and dessert. Then each of us picked a slip of paper. Whatever course we picked we got to choose that item for our Christmas Eve dinner. That first year we had nachos, pepperoni pizza, broccoli with cheese, Gatorade and chocolate cake. That was 23 years ago and to this day, DS asks if we are going to do the dinner draw again. Of course we do, only now each person has to do their own cooking.

Christmas Day is now spent at MIL's house with 50 people. Yup, that's right 50 people. It's a lot of people and very overwhelming, especially when it comes time to open the presents. Then it becomes a virtual zoo. Gift wrap and bows and children everywhere. So many gifts that the children don't even know what to do and the parents get so tired trying to keep track of everything. I'm glad my children are grown so they can take care of their own presents.

I sound like a Scrooge. Don't get me wrong. I love the meaning of Christmas - the birth of Jesus Christ. I'm all set with the commercialization of Christmas.

Thanks for reading about my Christmas activities. I hope you share your Christmas or Chanukah activities and favorite foods.

7 comments:

Chookyblue...... said...

omg I am still laughing at the mix of food you had for your first Christmas away from family........thanks for sharing hope others do as this could be really fun and interesting.......and I hope it is only 80 for my Christmas and not 100........

Unknown said...

How funny!! I love the drawing of the courses, what a great idea.

Libby said...

What a darling story . . . you can quickly tell just by the menu that boys must have come up with it *s*

Susan said...

What a great Christmas dinner! LOL! I'm sure my boys would have picked similar things, had I ever thought of doing that. I'm with you on simplifying things, though!

Kim said...

I love the drawing of parts of dinner :)
50 people yikes! we can't keep track of 5 little ones on Christmas morning. We all go to my mom's in the morning with the kiddies and breakfast for the kids to open presents. Then by noon we go back to our own homes and I cook dinner for my mil, my hubby and kids, sister and my parents. My brother cooks for his family and in laws. Two weekends before Christmas I get all the kiddies together to bake cookies. This year will be at my brother's house as he put in an extra stove downstairs :) So between my sil and myself we should be able to keep alot of trays going for the kids to decorate.
Another annual tradition is the girls shopping day which happened yesterday. We shop and have lunch together one Friday between Halloween and Thanksgiving- we used to go earlier but it's hard for my mom to walk especially with crowds of people who don't care if you're walking with a cane or not so we moved it up. We even get our picture taken with Santa. We all get a wallet and my Dad gets a 5x7.
How's the leg doing??? Any better????

Kim said...

Oh yeah, and on top of all the holiday festivities, we always have DD's bday party the Sunday before Christmas as she was born on the 21st. So another weekend of cooking for 20+ people. This year she turns 18 *gasp* where did the time go????

Quilter Kathy said...

What a great idea for Christmas meal planning! Makes for great memories!