The older I get, the more I want to actively mark traditions, especially those related to Christmas and the holiday season. So far I have the following:
- My Christmas tree goes up on the last weekend of November.
- I host a Christmas fête the following weekend, for friends, on the first Saturday of December (it might be a bit premature to put this down here since I’ve only hosted one such event).
- I go to the Christmas Eve service at my church with my family, followed by early Boxing Day shopping that evening.
- I sleep over at my parents’ place on Christmas Eve (it didn’t happen this year but I slept over on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and a couple more days).
- I host my family at my house on New Year’s Day.
This last point also happened for the first time this year. I decided to make a turkey dinner (my first, actually!) I’m embarrassed to admit it but it was also my first time making mashed potatoes (I’m a sheltered flower, yes I am!). Dinner was simple: turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and asparagus.
After waking up at the decadent hour of 11am, I decided to take my turkey out of the fridge, where it had been defrosting for less than 24 hours. It was still frozen. I had to transfer it to a bath in my sink. I had cut up the bread for the stuffing the night before, but it was still pretty fresh and soft, so I had to toast several batches of it in the oven while trying to quick-thaw my turkey.
Let’s talk about stuffing for a moment: I love it, oh so much. I always eat more stuffing than any other thing, and when I’m responsible for setting the table at my parents’ place, I always make sure the stuffing is set in front of me. As much as I love my mom’s stuffing, I was really excited to try out a stuffing recipe from the Food Network booklet my friend and former colleague Gen gave me. The last time I recall seeing the booklet was before my Christmas fête. I calmly checked all the places I thought it should be, then became more frustrated as New Year’s Eve day wore on. I eventually had to give up but I’m still pouting that I couldn’t find it when I needed it. I hope it didn’t end up in my recycling box by accident! My default stuffing recipe came from a cookbook I got from Ves and Rich as a housewarming gift, combined with the vegetables and herbs I recalled my mom including in her stuffing. I did have to call my family and ask them to bring some sage or poultry stuffing because I hadn’t done a complete inventory of my kitchen contents before cooking.
My parents and sister came by after church that afternoon (Brother #1 could not have been convinced to attend and Brother #2 had gone out of town for New Year’s Eve) and my mom proceeded to bustle around my kitchen, helping to get that turkey in the oven as soon as possible (she can’t resist a kitchen) while my dad and sister made themselves comfortable. We had a really relaxing afternoon: my three guests watched a football game and enjoyed some wine and snacks while I surfed the web and ate sugar cookies. Dinner was served at 9pm (thanks to getting the turkey in quite late!). Doesn’t it look good?
I wasn’t kidding about my mom loving the kitchen!
And the best part was that my parents and sister slept over! I was happy to have them over and they planned to sleep over as a surprise to me. And because they knew they were staying over, they could indulge to their heart’s content, stay up late and not rush. Dessert was cheesecake (oh yes, I have to tell you about my cheesecake debacle) with tea and coffee.
My dad usually likes to get a quick start on the day but the next morning even he lounged around chez moi until noonish, or maybe a bit before. My parents left and my sister stayed. The two of us watched a movie (accompanied by tea and more sugar cookies for me!).
It was a really good New Year’s Day and I hope it’ll be a tradition we repeat next year. I learned a lot about cooking turkey dinner too so maybe I’ll have most things done by the time they arrive next year! And hopefully, my brothers will attend next year.
Filed under: Celebrations, Family by jummy | 1 Comment »
