Christmas Time

It is 12:30am and I am sitting down to make a grocery list for Christmas dinner. For Thanksgiving I cooked my 2nd ever Turkey, the first over 30 years ago that ended in complete disaster. This year since we were all being safe in our own bubble due to Covid, I was unexpectedly charged with the task of turkey making. I have avoided this every year for the past 31 years of marriage until 2020. I love to cook, I love to bake, but for some reason the idea of cleaning, stuffing and baking a turkey does not sit well with me and my plan was to create a menu free of poultry until my oldest son insisted we had to have said bird, it was tradition and must be done. So, began the task of learning how to cook the turkey. I started with a call to my mother who advised me the best she could about how to prepare and stuff the bird, mind you this information is coming from a woman who I shop for weekly and complains about the way I purchase chicken. I had to shop for her not long ago where she ask me to purchase her a whole chicken so she could fry it for my boys who love her fried chicken. I said, "mom, you know they sell chickens already cut and breast and legs can be purchased seperately, to which she replied, yes but they, meaning the butcher, does not cut it the way I like it, I would rather do it myself. I should have known better than to seek advise on the turkey from this past experience, but it seemed the logical starting point. I spent days looking at recipes, scouring cookbooks, talking to friends and watching countless youtube videos, finally to settle on a simple, what was advertised as full proof method of preparing a turkey. I must say, after suiting up and cleaning out that bird and dressing it for the oven, I have never felt quite so accompolished in the kitchen. I called all my closest friends to bask in my pure joy and share my feelings of accompolishment like I had just finished a pulitzer prize winning essay. All of my sides were prepared, the table was set and all was right with the world. Full disclosure, the turkey was very moist and looked perfect when it came out of the over, but I still don't see all the hype and necessity of serving this every year. I do not like the taste and I don't think I have ever had a moment in my 55 years where I have enjoyed a turkey, so I am officially declaring next Thanksgiving Prime Rib day. For Christmas this year we are having ham. I can't seem to create a menu that sounds good this year. I again am scouring cookbooks, watching food videos and hoping something will jump out at me and get me excited to cook. I am looking so forward to having my kids at home this year to celebrate, and because we are trying our best to be safe, we are not traveling from house to house to visit everyone. I wonder if I am struggling so much this year, because I have declared on so many occassions that I am simplifying our holiday and the task of preparing all that food and spending hours in the kitchen for 30 minutes of feasting feels like a task that defeats my whole recommended simplified holiday this year. I want to keep it simple. I of course want to have delicious food, but why does this day require so much more effort than any other day. Everyday should be met with delicious food, shared with our families, soaking in the fellowship of our time together. But these days do not happen everyday, so I will continue to search for the perfect menu items, I will stay up late to finish baking, wrapping and setting the table, because I am thankful for every single second that I get to share with my kids, and I do not take for granted, especially this year, during this unusual time that i get to have them all next to me, I get to hold them, I get to wish them, in person Merry Christmas and rejoice in the reason for the season. Ten years from now, I can't imagine what our conversations will be like as we talk about the pandemic, masks, the way the entire world has been affected, and most importantly, how we were so very blessed to be together and were healtly and had a roof over our heads and a beautiful meal. Many blessing to you and your families! I wish you peace and good health this holiday season! XO The below photo is that of my messy kitchen! Stay tuned for recipes that were successful I will share in upcoming post!