It was a wonderful time! Things went pretty much as planned with the exception of losing a day because of little ones etc. they didn't arrive on the scheduled day but the next day. The plan was we would cook 5 family dinners here, they would stay at Kip's and come back and forth to visit.
We would have a traditional big spread on Christmas Eve at noon. Then leftovers for evening meal. They were going to leave after breakfast on Christmas day.
The requested meal scheduled for first day arrival was biscuits with sausage gravy. Easy peasy. Could be made at anytime etc. etc. When they didn't arrive the original day I just kept with the original 5 meals and moved it to the next day. I had such a carefully laid plan!
Sunday night, Shannon, a friend put out a notice to the Ward women...did anyone have some candlesticks she could borrow?-- as hers were loaned out etc. etc and she wanted if for Monday night.
I checked with her, via email, later that night, 9-ish?, and asked if she'd got some candlestick holders as I had some that she could borrow. She let me know that she had some that were on loan and --how disappointed her children would be if she didn't keep the long time family tradition of a candlelight dinner on Christmas Eve.
How nice....I thought. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks!!!! Tomorrow was Christmas Eve!?!! No way!!! Surely not!! Except for the Turkey and a lavish menu, with most of the ingredients at ready, I still had to shop. There were pies to make!! There was a cranberry salad that needed to set up!! A bean salad to marinate!! I started to hyperventilate and rushed out to Terry....Oh, good grief!!! tomorrow is Christmas Eve!!! He said...Are you sure??? How did that happen?! We did the only sensible thing that 2 modern people would do. We came back and checked the computer calendar. Sure enough! plain as day!! Christmas Eve was on Monday not Tuesday!!!
I pulled the thawing turkey from the refrigerator and willed it to finish thawing at room temperature overnight and not give any of us whatever lethal germs you can breed.
I should have had a clue that my thinker was off a cog because at Church, a friend invited me to her house, the day after Christmas. In my off kilter thinking and still being governed mentally by my 5 day meal list menu laying on the counter, I replied...Oh, on Thursday. She said...No. On Wednesday.
Early, the day of the meal, Terry and I were up and trying to figure out how to pull this off and be calm at least outwardly. We had let Kipper know that we'd lost a day and we weren't ready but we would be but the meal would not be at noon but close to it (said with fingers crossed!).
I dashed over to the local market and purchased the last minute items we needed for our feasting. Lo, and behold, there was Shannon. I told her how thankful I was that she let me know about Christmas Eve but felt secure she'd understand my lunacy. One thing though, in my mad dash from the house to the store, I did what all fat folks do at stress time...grab something sweet and eat! On the run! One of Terry's cinnamon rolls, with white frosting. When I got home with our groceries, Terry informed me that I had white frosting on my chin and upper lip!!! A lot of it!!! Oh, gosh!! Sigh. Oh, well. Life!
I think we ate around 1 or was it 2? I know it wasn't 3. It was a delicious meal, a gorgeous table, and we were truly happy to be with some family. There were no pies. There was no cranberry salad but there was a bowl of cranberry sauce. We forgot to make a green salad. The bean salad marinated long enough to be cool but not chilled and definitely not marinated but it was good anyhow. The basics were delish and Terry and I enjoyed watching others enjoy what we'd done. We felt it was a miracle that we did what we'd planned to take a full day and a half to do the way we wanted (okay. I wanted. not we.) and we did it in a few hours. We were a great team and acknowledged how nice we didn't get into a dog/cat mode but instead pulled together like a set of oxen supposedly do.
Here are some random pictures.
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| Ava/Terry/Kipper |
and some more random pictures
and a couple of more....
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| Kim cooked a breakfast casserole that is a family tradition at her childhood home. |
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| ready to leave for a snowy ride home |
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| Another goodbye |
Ava took all of the sweets- cookies, gingerbread men, gingerbread house etc., put them in Kip's 2 refrigerators, scotch-taped the doors and put school chairs in front of doors-- to keep Santa from eating anything other than what was on the plate she left him!
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Kip insisted we get a family picture and then posted it on FB so I will do the same being as how it's out there anyhow!! He told me after the fact!!
I told him I look like I have viking eyebrows and he said-- "its just bangs, Mom". Whew!!!
I am glad that we have a photo memory of our few delightful days together!
Terry and I in back.
Front...Kim holding Kai. Kip holding Ava. Kipper.
so that is our oldest child/son ...Kipper. His son- Kip. Kip's wife Kim. and our 2 great grandchildren!! You probably already figure that out. Just in case you needed help. there you go!
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