Well, the kids are heading to Belize for Christmas so they came over Friday night for our traditional holiday decorating dinner. We’re planning on having our gift exchange on New Year’s Eve.
Since I’ve known they weren’t going to be here, I had been somewhat depressed about the holidays but decided, buoyed by the success of our Thanksgiving, to host a Christmas Eve dinner for the same folks, minus my daughter and her partner.
Sent the invites out. It’s a pot luck, with guests bringing vegan lasagne, key lime pie, sweet potatoes, a pumpkin pie, and a festive salad. I’m going to be using my Instapot to fire up some Tuscan Bean Soup with Kale and make some gluten free garlic bread. We’re going to have guacamole with red and green peppers for dipping, vegan cheese and rice crackers, and green olives for appetizers. I’ve already prepared my shopping list.
But back to Friday. The kids (I call them kids although they are both 32) were coming after six and not spending the night as my daughter is in the midst of finals at UCB, so I decided to do all the prep work well ahead of time. That meant starting with the lights on the trees.
Spent over an hour trying to jerry rig the lighting. I'm just not very handy. Thought I could drape the larger string from one tree to the other across the mantle with plans to mix in some garland. Didn't work. Looked horrific. Drove over to Target, picked up a smaller set of lights for the second tree, another extension cord, a power strip. Got both trees lit well before the kids arrived.
For the front door, I took a simple gold wire wreath and decorated it by weaving it through with large gilded branches garnished with multi-colored ornaments.
And the evening was just lovely. I had all the decorations (including the holiday paraphernalia for the three dogs) spread out on the coffee table and couch. Cheese and crackers, olives, a red pepper dip. I could tell, they were both so tired after long weeks at work and school, how relieved they were that I had taken care of all the preliminary work.
All those Christmas decorations... so many memories. Many of which I would prefer not to revisit. But the whole process means so much to my daughter. Each year (and this was no exception) she says the same things: "Oh, here's Aunt Doris' ornaments, mom" ... "I found Snoopy" ... "Do you want to put the Eiffel Tower on?" ... "Gus and Bo!" ... "Here's another one of Ariel's" ...
I had dinner just about ready. Baked yams, salmon baked with Moroccan spices, a large green salad. We ate as we watched Elf, my daughter’s favorite Christmas movie. Another tradition.
They left about 9:30 and I sat for awhile on the couch, with holiday music playing, looking at those two little trees and thinking about all the love that went into decorating them. So lucky. So grateful.
Holiday Tips
What holiday traditions do you have to share? And what are your plans this year?