Well. The storm has come, and mostly gone. It rained from Thursday afternoon to Friday evening. We had lightning and heavy rain early Friday morning - very exciting. Lightning is very exciting where we live, since the mountain tops are only about 1000 feet above our house, and our neighborhood is in a smallish, bowl shaped valley (hence the name Ponderosa Basin) which seems to catch a lot of clouds. The lightning lights up the whole sky, and then the thunder ricochets off the mountains. The power of a storm is very evident here.
We didn't get any snow at our house this time. I'm okay with that. I need to get my truck to the Big O tire shop in Oakhurst, as my treads are worn down. Four wheel drive doesn't matter much in the snow, if you're driving on slick treads.
Christmas is coming, and the goose is getting fat. I don't know what I'll do with the goose, since I prefer to have lamb at Christmas dinner. Maybe it will catch a flight out of Fresno Yosemite International Airport, and go visit family in South America.
This leads me to ask everyone who reads this blog - all 7 of you.
What is your favorite thing to have at Christmas dinner (whether it's on the Eve or the actual Day)?
What is your Christmas present opening tradition? On Christmas Eve? Christmas morning? Or do you make yourself wait until all the cousins show up after the Christmas Day meal?
What is your favorite Christmas song?
Please share, won't you. I'm also calling out all the blog lurkers. Stop in and say hello, won't you?
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13 comments:
Do you really have a goose? I have a goose recipe I've always wanted to try for Christmas, though the family seems stuck on a rotation of tri tip and turkey. Sometimes ham, which I skip and add in extra dessert instead! Yum.
The best part about Christmas food is appetizers and dessert anyhow.
Christmas song? O Holy Night. A close second would be O Come, O Come Emmanuel.
Present tradition? Hm. We do it differently depending on where we are. I like to stay home and open them in private. We would never open our immediate family gifts with my children's cousins as we spend about 1/3 or 1/4 what the others do. Rich relatives can ruin Christmas sometimes. :)
Prime rib is our traditional Christmas meal. My grandma used to make it every time, but now the duty has been passed on to Chris. I think he does it better (ssh! Don't tell Grandma I said that).
I also make homemade candies for the family (that used to be Grandma's job, too)
I totally agree with Brandy about the desserts and the favorite songs.
Our tradition is that we get each child a special ornament that kind of sums up their previous year. This we open on Christmas Eve. The rest of the presents we open on Christmas morning as a family, usually one or two small presents that they really wanted. Then we head over to my parents (or Eddie's mom's house, depending on where we are) for opening their presents with the rest of the family. We usually have breakfast when we go to my parents' house and my dad talks forever before the meal and we all get really hungry, but its cool. I guess we actually open presents after breakfast now that I think about it.
And that's our Christmas! Good idea. I can't wait to hear what others do (and what you guys do, too).
Kimbrah
I have no goose. I don't think I've ever had a goose before. The closest I've gotten to goose is some kind of duck at a Chinese restaurant.
When we have a Christmas meal with my side of the family, we usually have a smorgasbord going on. One year it was ham, lamb, and clam (chowder).
At the in-law's we usually have shish kebab (lamb), yalanchi, and stir fry vegetables. My father-in-law is the best at grilling shish kebab, and my mother-in-law makes excellent stir fry vegetables. My wife is the talented maker of yalanchi. If you've never had it before, you probably wouldn't try it on sight. trust me, it's good. Young grape leaves stuffed with rice, tomatoes, lemon juice, onion, olive oil... I wish I had some right now.
My wife just reminded me of the Souberag. We "odars" really like this stuff.
For me, Christmas music has always been a mix of "White Christmas" by old Bing, and Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians.
Presents have lately been a thing that we do on the eve with my wife's parents. Then we've gone to my parents in the morning. this year will be different, as it is the first year we will be having Christmas at our house. I really do want to make some traditions for my daughter, as they felt so incredibly important to me as a child.
There is new stuff to eat every Christmas. The usual ham (for James and me), mussels, squid (?), lamb... Conchita's homemade bread..
But the past year or two Ana has made stuffed mushroom appetizers to munch on while all of those meats are being prepared. I think it is delicious. And R's grape leaves were really good last year, too!
Most of my favorite songs are by Bing, too. Mele Kalikimaka, White Christmas, etc. But Lux Venit by Michael W. Smith has been stuck in my head for weeks, and I love it.
Presents: Christmas Eve we open gifts from whoever comes to Christmas Eve dinner. Then James and I venture over to church for the Christmas Eve service. I don't know where we'll go this year since James has been going to Valley Bible.
Christmas morning, well, it's the same since you lived in the house. Stockings are opened together first. Then make our way to the presents under the tree. I can't remember where breakfast comes in. But I know it is always delicious.
I'm really looking forward to a Fred Waring cd that I bought online for $6. I also got a Disney collection of Christmas cartoons. It has Small One, Mickey's Christmas Carol, and some other stuff. Only $7.
I'm really hoping that R. will make some yalanchi this Christmas. I love yalanchi.
I am hoping that we can find a church to go to for a Christmas Eve service. We don't have a church to call home yet. I really like Christmas Eve services.
You've covered the food pretty well, so I'll skip it.
I'll start with favorite Christmas songs... there are so many! I love O Holy Night when it is sung well and I also love O Come, O Come Emmanuel. A little less well known, but still some of my favorites are Lo How a Rose and Angels From the Realms of Glory. I also like to hear Mary Did you Know?
I think my favorite tradition is Christmas Stockings. I love planning for and shopping for stocking stuffers. Even though we haven't decided what to tell L about Santa, there WILL be stockings!
When I was a child, we spent Christmas Eve with my dad's family. Then we opened our gift with our own family Christmas morning. I would try to stay up so that I could hear when Santa would arrive. We would head over to my grandparent's house (mom's fam) for Christmas day and have a meal and gifts with all of the Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins.
I thought of another tradition that I loved as a kid. It was kind of silly, but Mom would buy my brother and I each a box of some cereal were weren't allowed to have normally. It would always be wrapped and under the tree.
Since you've called the lurkers out...
Our family sticks with turkey or ham, although two years ago, I had a turducken shipped to my father's house and we had that. (If you haven't heard of turducken, you probably don't want to ask. The short version: chicken, duck, and turkey deboned and stuffed in layers.)
For our music - my family's tradition is Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. Our parents took my sister and I to the ballet each holiday, and I still love the music.
~Jay
Well, MPL, the Trafficman is having leg 0'lamb along with some Spanish eats and some Ham (fwied ham, fwied ham with 'tato 'n' onion...)on Christmas eve. Having reg'lar ham up at the grandparents on Saturday (see y'all there). We like to listen to der Bingle (Crosby that is) and some of the old standards as well as the newer stuff. (I'm kind of partial to that Fred Waring music too, MPL.) Sewerlady and Trafficman will go to midnight Mass for some great church traditions and music. Very joyous! Then up early on Christmas Day to see what Saint Nicholas (hey, I know a kid with that name)left for us. I most enjoy watching others open presents and listening.
And I also like this quote I recently found, "When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?" ~G.K. Chesterton
Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night!
Glad you made it through the storm...
I'm pretty dull when it comes to our Christmas meal, duplicate Thanksgiving & I'm happy. Turkey (white meat) Stuffing & mashed potatos. Open the presents with our boys on Christmas morning, the other 2 families varies each year.
Here's to a safe Christmas to all!
-Still Lurking-
I've got to know, Jay. How was the Turducken? Can you tell the different birds apart, or does it just all taste like the proverbial chicken?
I, also, love The Nutcracker. I remember a version of it being on the PBS station when I was a kid. It was a kind of animation that looked like pieces of paper. It both fascinated and frightened me. I think it was the Rat King that got to me.
Nice to hear from you, jasonl. I hope your Christmas meal surpasses your Thanksgiving.
Greetings from the winter wonderland of the Austrian Alps! It's sure easy to talk of Christmas when everything is white and the Advent Markets are everywhere.
My favorite Christmas tradition is unwrapping the boxes of ornaments and having everyone else put them on the tree. As the tissue paper comes off, there is a flood of memories. Memories of the person who made it & the season of life in which it was acquired. I have ornaments from my mom, purchased for a quarter back in the 60's when it felt like an extravagance. I have a small crocheted bootie made by your mom and the tears always come when I unwrap it. She would be so incredibly proud of all of her children. She would love your blogs. She would have been an awesome grandma. I'm so glad she insisted on our 2 Christmases together at Alaythia. We'll never forget being snowbound with you all in our biggest Seattle storm to date. Those are some great cousin memories.
Christmas Eve dinner has become tomato soup and cinnamon bread cheese sandwiches before dashing off to worship services. After that we invite a few families over for cookies & hot cider and sing carols to the neighbors. Once the guests are gone, we snuggle up to watch our family favorite "Muppets Christmas Carol." I make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning and then all food preparations are passed along to the rest of the family. Prime rib & Yorkshire pudding are in the care of Richard & Noah. Kristi & Holly take care of salad & green beans. I take a walk around Greenlake alone and sit on my favorite bench to reflect upon the past year and offer thanks to our Father for all. This year may be harder in some ways for the loss of my dad and many other close friends but I know in my heart that it is just a temporary separation. We will all be united soon.
I must close. There must be a limit to how long I can prattle on. Much love to all of you. -aunt donna
Let me first say, Hah! With my comment that makes EIGHT of us. Looks like you underestimated your loyal following!
But after reading all of these wonderful comments I don't think there's much I need to add (especially since Megan already covered most of my Christmas experience). I am thoroughly enjoying this Christmas season and I am looking forward to seeing friends and family in the coming weeks.
I would like to add, though, that Sufjan Stevens has some amazing songs on his Christmas album. Holy, Holy, Holy and O Come, O Come Emmanuel are beautiful and will forever remain among my favorites.
Turducken...What can I tell you? I mentioned that I had ordered one a couple of years ago. I also made my own last summer - just to see if I could.
Deboning three birds is arduous, and then you have to prepare one or two stuffings to go between each layer. The one that you can order over the internet comes from a specialty meat shop in Louisiana, and features a cajun jambalaya stuffing that is really good.
When the whole turducken is finished, you slice it straight down in layers the way you would a rolled ice-cream cake (I hope that analogy is more illustrative than it sounds).
You can taste all of the various flavors as long as you let the whole thing cool sufficiently before slicing. I neglected that the first time and everything fell apart into a three-bird-and-stuffing fricassee.
Next one I do, I'll smoke in a wood chip smoker, rather than cooking it in the oven. Either way - you're looking at 4-6 hours of prep and 6-8 to cook. It's a lot easier to buy one already prepared.
~Jay
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