Neither of the get-togethers were fancy. It was strictly potluck, but we had more food than you could ever imagine - turkey, ham, chicken, dressing, appetizers, casseroles galore, desserts. Every female had a new dish plus the one they had perfected throughout the years that they wanted to showcase, so to speak. No one, male or female, made a fuss over who was carving the turkey, but Southern women do stake a claim whose makes the dressing.
You see, whether you know it or not, there is a difference between stuffing and dressing. Stuffing is good, but dressing, well good dressing, is like a piece of Heaven. My mother, for years, was the queen bee when it came to dressing. In fact, I was well into my 30s before she would even share her recipe with me and even then, it was pinch of this and pinch of that until it reaches a trick, soupy consistency. No genuine recipe, for sure. But, with much guidance and trial, I think my dressing is really close to my mother's. When my mother passed, I thought I might be able to make her dressing and bring it to the family gatherings. I soon learned otherwise as the next one on the matriarchal list quickly let me know that she had the dressing covered.
Back to the Christmas dinners, by the time Christmas day actually arrived, my mother was quite tired of Christmas/holiday food so she instituted the big Christmas breakfast and light lunch/dinner for the other meal.
After I got married, the holidays became much more stressful with the addition of my husband's family. It's the juggling of family time that makes the holidays so hard. The first few years of marriage, we nearly killed ourselves trying to split the day with each of our families and finally we came up with a system. One family will get Thanksgiving day and the other family will get Christmas day and the next year we flip. It seems to be working for now.
This year, we will have my dad, his friend and my niece over at our house on Christmas eve and then my dad is planning on coming over on Christmas day for a bit. That is, if weather allows. You see, they are predicting measurable snow in Alabama on Christmas day. If it happens, it would be the first time ever recorded and it means that my dad probably won't make it to the house since we live up on a mountain and the roads won't be driveable. So, it may just be me and the boys on Christmas day.
In any case, it's a little surreal for me to think that all of Christmas dinner is up to me, but I'm getting a little handle on it and have been having some fun planning it out. So, without a further ado, I bring you this Southern woman's menu:
Christmas Eve
Apply Cider Vinaigrette Salad with dried cranberries, walnuts, and feta
Shish Kabobs
Roasted Asparagus
Baked potatoes
Rosemary bread
Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake
Christmas Day
Smoked turkey breasts
Honey glazed ham
Stuffed celery
Mama's cornbread dressing
Sweet potato casserole
Green beans
Cranberry orange relish
Rolls
Egg custard pie
Perhaps, with it potentially being a Christmas without the the extended family, I could take a less ambitious approach to the food, but what's the fun of that? So if you're in the area, and you feel like dropping by, come on over! We may still be in our pj's but the the food will be divine.
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