In years past it has been our tradition to set a formal table for Christmas Eve Dinner. This year was no different, with the exception of an added guest. Many hours and days are spent preparing for this one meal where all the china and crystal is set for a festive celebration. Two days of shopping in two seperate cities were spent looking for some of the items for the dinner and two days of cooking culminated into a seven course meal which included an aperitif.
After the meal, as we were all finally able to sit around the living room, each of us expressed an interest in change. As tired as I was at the moment, I listened with interest. We all decided that next year we might lean more toward a more casual affair. I jokingly mentioned that we could have taken a quick weekend vacation for what it cost for the meal….OR we could have least dined on the most elegant cuisine and not had the worry of preparation and clean up afterwards. The time spent “working” could have been better spent playing games and interacting…all in the same room.
After a bit of consideration, I am thinking that this may have been the very last “fancy” Christmas Eve meal. Of course, I do not think I will resort to eating at Burger King as I did on Thanksgiving, but a less labor intensive meal will be in order. If this change does come about I will, however, refuse to change my own favorite rule of “MOMMA DOESN’T COOK on CHRISTMAS DAY!” just because I am simplifying Christmas Eve. 
Christmas 2009
December 28th, 2009
2 Responses to “Christmas 2009”
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August 17th, 2010 - 1:34 pm
I liked reading your Christmas day blog. We haven’t downsized in decorating but we have in cooking. Christmas Dinner now consists of a big pot of home made chicken noodles, mashed potatoes, salad, biscuits and pie for dinner. The days of cooking big meals and such are long gone.
We focus on staying out of the kitchen, enjoying the day and conversations, kids and getting together it works for us. :o)
Also we no longer cook Thanksgiving but for the past 30 years go to the Methodist church community dinner. Love it!! Get all the fun, community and food but still have time for each other. My grandaughter now heads the dinner program!!!
August 17th, 2010 - 4:38 pm
Thanks Joyce. Your Thanksgiving sounds wonderful…wish we had something like that here. I sometimes feel terrible that I would just as soon go out to eat than to spend the entire week cooking and then cleaning up afterward. Everyone else gets to visit and relax, while I spend days in preparation. Even at $25 a person, I think it would be less expensive to eat out than to purchase groceries and prepare the meal at home.
While growing up, my family’s holiday meal tradition included several different pies, salads, meat choices and more. Granny always made the BEST pies..but now it is just me. My girls are in college and have no way of baking or preparing items before arriving. They do try to help some in our small kitchen, but I just think it would be much easier to begin some kind of new tradition…one that is not quite as time consuming.
Currently, I am trying to get my family on board with going away on Christmas, but we are having a bit of a disagreement in that department. I would much rather spend the money, time and effort that we do on Christmas buying and take a memorable, but short, vacation. The problem is getting everyone to agree on a location…haha! We have considered Branson, Kansas City and Oklahoma City as choices, with OKC being the most convenient (but maybe not the most entertaining).
Thanks again for stopping by…as you can see, I have been very remiss in updating this blog.