Christmas Food For Thought… Traditionally Speaking
Posted on Friday, December 26th, 2008
I guess the day after Christmas should be spent waxing poetic about all those heart-felt feelings of good cheer and the season of giving. I’ll spare you the rhapsody. I’m all about the food and fun. Especially this year.
Yes, our little family got together yesterday here in our somewhat tiny home. In the great tradition, our cats hid for the most part, which made just enough room for us six people, our little tree, and the fancy manger scene.
We exchanged a few fun little gifts. The Grandkids, once again, rolled their eyes at me as I bestowed the annual gift of pajamas… thus the moniker “Pajama Gramma”. As I explained to them, this is a tradition, like it or not. Then we gave them their fun gift; a board game called Apples to Apples. I look forward to sitting down and losing to them in the next couple days.
We enjoyed the traditional “Papa versus Grandkids” game of Sorry. Papa plays “No Mercy Sorry”, pitting his wit and strategy against a 7 and 11 year old. And, once again, Papa lost. This, again, is a tradition, albeit a tradition that Papa doesn’t necessarily enjoy; the losing. All this went on over a backdrop of various Christmas music and the television showing a video of snow falling softly in a pine forest. Technology takes me home, once again.
Our traditional Christmas meal is exactly like our traditional Thanksgiving meal. First, the best spinach dip in the world made by my daughter. Then, my husband’s best turkey and stuffing, with my daughter’s family creating their wonderful creamy potatoes, my much requested curried cauliflower, which was actually my Mom’s recipe, and, of course, the famous green bean casserole. With a couple yummy pies for dessert, we’re all set. The turkey filled the air with that Holiday aroma, and all the vegetable dishes were cooked in shifts, rotated in and out of the oven as room allowed.
So, all this nonsense said, my point is that the Holidays are all about the food and fun for me. The few gifts given are always about tradition and fun, never anything anyone actually asks for or even wants. Don’t get me wrong; I love giving gifts, but, like most grandparents or parents of adults, we either don’t know what they want, or they get what they want for themselves. The gifts we end up giving, then, are gifts of tradition. The majority of my shopping is done in the grocery store. The majority of my time is spent cooking, eating, and playing games.
My Christmas memories are wrapped around the time and effort that my parents and grandparents put into getting us all together for a celebration. That was no small feat back in those days, what with families with one car, miles traveled on snowy roads, and work schedules that weren’t always Holiday friendly. A big meal, with a few gifts, and many, many people of all ages gathered in a relatively small area, with coats, boots, hats, and mittens taking up one whole room… these are the memories that dreams are made of.
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I love you sharing your family and food memories. They are so warm and real. Like you. I appreciate your wit and humor. Oh, I would love to have the curried cauliflower recipe too! If that’s possible.
Thanks, Gretchen! I’m glad you stopped by and enjoyed the read. 😀
I think I’ll share my recipe for Curried Cauliflower in a post soon. How’s that sound? Thanks again!