My family’s never been big on insisting that Christmas be held on the actual day, which came in real handy when I got divorced and swapped which holidays I got every year. We figure it just spreads out the fun, and have been known to have it on the fourteenth just for convenience’s sake. Since the boys were going out of state with their father this year, I wanted to have it on the weekend before. Since Junior’s Grandma seemed to be getting tired of hosting Christmas and Thanskgiving herself every year, we combined the two and invited both families over this Saturday, so I only had to cook one feast.

And feast we did; I cooked to my heart’s content. The men went outside and deep-fried a turkey (which needs more practice, as it was really dry) while I worked the kitchen and tried not to get twitchy when people wanted to help. I’ve got a little family quirk, you see. We women don’t like to let other people in our kitchens. As big as it is, I was using all of it. So Junior’s mom brought her delicious ham and I did a prime rib in the rotisserie, and somehow we got everything to the table at more-or-less the same time. Except for the deviled eggs, but at least I did remember them mid-meal.

Their family traditions have been fairly consistent over the years. Grandma cooks, and I think usually the same things every year. I like to shake things up a little bit, and added in some of our family traditions too. They were polite and tried the Brussels Sprouts, but I don’t think most of them liked them. That’s OK, there were plenty of other vegetables to pick from.

It was a little weird having two tables, plus the kids’ table, but none of the rooms are big enough for eighteen people. It didn’t matter; it was just fun. Our families seem to like each other, and everyone hung out late enough for pie and coffee. My twitchy self managed to get out of the way when some of the women swooped in on the mess and did dishes – I’m usually the one in that role, but I could get used to it!

I think this is probably what we’ll do every year, which gives me a nice excuse to pick up a couple more serving dishes and maybe a tablecloth or two. Nobody noticed that the one I used was an old sheet. It was in a set of tablecloths that my Grandma had given me, and I assumed it was one too, until Seamus and I tried to spread it on the table and discovered that it may have actually been a homemade sleeping bag liner. Oh well, I shrugged and used it anyway, but next year, a real one is in order. I had a nice time using some of my treasured dishes, mixed with paper plates to make cleanup easier. I really do like to cook for lots of people, and this house has the room for it, so I’m happy to take the job, especially with a husband who fully pitches in.