Boy, I have really invested so much time into holiday celebrations. I can’t say that I’m upset by it. I can say it’s probably due to the fact that I have such fond memories from holiday get togethers across the span of my childhood. I don’t doubt that, in small measure, I have felt compelled to celebrate because I placed so much value on those times. Much of my childhood and even into my adulthood is characterized by the mundane in life. Anyone relate? In that measure, it’s a little easier to understand that, for me, holidays meant an alteration to the day-to-day, an abrupt change to what is expected, and the excitement of different activities and food.
Food, of course, is the foundation of most holiday get togethers. This may be a uniquely American thing, or maybe a uniquely Christian thing-either could be false-but I would like to say that as I’ve observed it, food is part of every culture :).
When a holiday approaches I begin with considering the menu. What will I put out? What will I make? I often have a standard of offerings for any holiday, and have worked at attempting to avoid cross pollinating. For example, I don’t want to serve the same meat each holiday. I used to do that. However, a Christmas ham and an Easter ham seemed boring and predictable. This last year, I changed to a roast beast for Christmas, as in Prime Rib, and even I was blown away. I did ask my husband to help me prepare it. I will admit: I got the recipe from a certain online person with a blog and cooking show. Does that matter, though? Anyone can ruin a recipe. We didn’t. It was delicious! So now I feel the freedom to have a ham for Easter. But then, I don’t want to have mashed potatoes. They come next with Thanksgiving, and again, the repetitive thing. Plus, I always found it strange that we would have a beef gravy over a pork meat. Is that just me? No? Well, I’m no purist and certainly no chef, but I had to change it up.
Most places I’ve lived does have moderate to H-O-T weather on Easter, depending on day. This year, Easter is later than usual. I don’t want too many hot dishes. Shoot, even the ham comes precooked-I’m guessing they don’t want to be responsible for thousands of people getting sick or worse for undercooking a ham. So, whether I heat it through and through, or simply warm it up, we won’t die. But also, it dawned on me that the sizes of some of these pigs must be enormous! Those hammocks. Lord….I can’t get away with too many cold things, either. For example, my kids don’t like salads of most sorts: potato, lettuce, jello…..so, those are out. Why, jello, though? The floating fruit is a scientific mystery and who doesn’t like Cool Whip?
I’ve decided to remain current and trendy and have a charcuterie board, plus deviled eggs. My crowd is still all about dips with veggies or chips. I’m skipping chips, but will include veggies and then…la piece de resistance…..deviled eggs. Am I right? The irony of deviling something on Christ’s resurrection is not lost on me. Plus, they are delicious.
Still going to have the ham-with a sugar, coke, Dr Pepper, or no, glaze. Hmmm…decisions. I will add two small sides and a bread of some sort. For dessert I will have out the chocolate candy tower-we traditionally order chocolates from one company-and I decided since I can’t find this fanciful recipe I used a few years ago, I will make a different cake I saw just this past week. It’s called an “icebox” cake, and it uses fresh fruit, is old school, and simple. I like pie, but most of my crowd is mixed about the culinary treasure, and they are getting sugary treats anyway…dessert is just a necessity for a three course montage.
One thing that I find so annoying is when the older kids ask, “Who is coming over?” Look, they huff when I do invite people, they are disappointed when it’s, “just us,” and frankly I can’t take the pressure of attempting to satisfy their need for a crowd on a holiday. It’s not my fault kids grow up and move far, far away. It’s also not my fault that adult children have other lives and may not want to come over. It’s not my fault that people we know from church or in the neighborhood have their own families and traditions and activities. Frankly, I had always dreamed of having a growing crowd, envisioning all these kids coming with their spouses and kids…..sigh….some day, hopefully. And perhaps this entire dream stems from how I felt growing up, with the large crowd, the busyness, the good eats….
The thing that was always missing from my memory was the work. Why? Well, I didn’t have to do any of it! First, I was a child. When I grew up, and had a baby, I had a baby, and was poo poo’d from attempting to try and help…tend to the baby, they’d say. When I moved away at an older age, and I suddenly became the oldest person, oh wow….it was then my job to manage all the work. I miss just attending and enjoying the event. And despite their double-mindedness about visitors and people, I know my kids will grow up with a memory of how I tried to make -all holiday gatherings- special, or at a least memorable, and hopefully in a good way. I know people who have memories of drunken fights, loud music, angry conversations……I didn’t want that for my kids. And, sadly, I had a bad outcome once. I guess we all get a mulligan. But never again. Promise.
I don’t mind the work, and in the past decade have really fine tuned the less is more focus, along with using techniques to help me feel like I can prepare and work WHILE participating in the day. The kids are almost out of the egg hunt age, so that will have to rest until children attend, if there are any, again. I’m not against having an older person’s hunt….lol….that honestly sounds like a hoot! And, because of the diversity of ages, we had instituted a new tradition for holidays of Nerf gun fights. We had to miss Christmas last year due to rain and mud, but unless it rains (please, Lord, hear our prayer), we will have the blessed Nerf war, to the delight of my youngest, now 8. It’s the glorious battle de jour. He can’t wait!