What Beverages Do You Serve At Your Holiday Meals?
5 years ago
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What Are Your Holidays (Meals, Events, Etc) Influenced by?
Comments (11)Our traditions when I was a child were fairly simple and mostly revolved around gathering family (grandparents, aunts, uncles cousins and honorary family) at a table for the meal and not a lot of other fanfare. Foods were specific to the holiday and pretty consistent over the years although my mom did love to try new things. Unfortunately the response more often than not, was to stick with the tried and true - kids can be so mean!! We didn't make big productions out of many of the holidays that are big events now. Halloween involved carving a pumpkin for/with each child then shoo-ing us out the door to trick or treat in whatever homemade costumes we came up with from the dress-up closet. My parents would never decorate our house and it never felt like anything was missing in our lives. Fourth of July was our village parade (with our decorated bikes) and speeches, then that night the fireworks. Memorial Day was more somber but also a village event. Being Jewish, I loved being invited to decorate trees with friends, but we had 8 nights of Hanukkah and the last night was the big family event with games, the traditional meal and presents. But other than the menorah and candles, no decorations. Passover was a huge production (I understand now how much work it entails), the High Holidays meant new outfits for temple, eating, fasting, lots of family in and out for the various services. My DH is not Jewish and came from a whole different set of (religious) traditions. Oddly, he didn't like many of them, even as a child and stopped participating as an adult. Of course, I get the blame for that! We forged new traditions with our sons, celebrating Hanumas or Christmakah. We topped our tree with a Jewish star for many years, until I realized no one else cared about the tree but me and when I stopped buying one they all said 'what took you so long?!' Last year we went to Washington for Thanksgiving. Our older son lives there in a tiny apartment in a national park. Tiny as in you can sit on the foot of the bed and open the refrigerator! Our younger son came from his college in CO, and the 5 of us (including DS1's girlfriend) stood shoulder to shoulder preparing the big meal. Nothing traditional, no turkey no stuffing no mashed potatoes - we had oysters, Dungeness crab, roast brisket..... and Mexican flan for dessert. Close quarters, limited equipment, borrowed dishes, no fancy table settings or decor but we laughed and felt so TOGETHER - it was probably the best Thanksgiving we've ever had! I love traditions but have come to appreciate the wonder of shaking things up now and then. In the end, though, it's all about the people I share the events with and have found simplifying things allows me to enjoy them much more....See MoreDo you have bread served at every meal?
Comments (45)I don't think I had a bagel until I was grown and out of the house! Growing up, besides white sandwich bread, we always had Thomas' English muffins in the house as well as an English muffin bread (not sure the brand) that was very good for breakfast. (Does anyone know where that can be purchased today?) We also always had Parker rolls for Sunday or holiday dinner (my mom usually forgot about them until half way through the meal so they were burnt). When I was a young adult out on my own--late 70s, early 80s--it was very popular to make banana, zucchini, or other sweet breads. I don't crave bread, but I do crave butter sometimes and hence the vehicle to carry it!...See MoreNot what you serve but Who is coming to your Thanksgiving meal
Comments (24)I will be having the family at my home this year. My three kids and their families alternate with us and their in-laws for the major holidays. The kids all like to be here at the same time, so it is the 3 of them, their spouses, 4 grandchildren, my Mom and Dad (they live an hour and a half away), two of my Aunts, two cousins, and my cousin's daughter, and her husband and son. And my BIL. In all that's 22. I will have to do this buffet style, and set up tables in the living room. I'm sure it will be chaotic, especially since my one son and DIL will be staying with us with the two babies. And then my parents will stay over too. Wish my house was a little bit (or a lot) bigger. But we will make due. I'm just grateful that we can all be together....See MoreWhat do you serve for your holiday breakfast and lunch?
Comments (12)I cook for DH, myself and the kids. I always make monkey bread in the morning. Kids can open stocking while it bakes. I sprinkle powdered sugar on it and call it snow. Pot roast is our tradition for Christmas dinner, which will be served mid-day, neither lunch nor dinner, around 2:00. In between I put out munchies- crackers, cheeseball, cheese cubes, deviled eggs, grapes, pepperoni... We open under-the-tree gifts while the roast cooks. If they get hungry in the evening, we pull the leftovers out. We end up playing a lot of games and watching some movies, so the rest of the day after the meal is laid back. I like having all the work behind me by then, relax the rest of the day. I do not have a traditional Christmas Eve meal. Depends on how busy I still am, sometimes it's pizza! ;o) I'm OK this year, so I plan to put a pork roast (actually almost 4 lbs worth) in the crock pot tonight, let it cook all night, shred it up tomorrow dinner. Between that and Christmas day leftovers, we'll eat Sat and Sun, too. That's my plan. I really do not enjoy all this cooking. If I didn't think it would disappoint DH and kids, I would not do it. I'd find someplace that serves dinner Christmas day and go out! Oh, that would be so much nicer! Make a reservation, we'd all dress up and go out together, no cooking, no clean up. I resent the work, the time it takes to do it compared to the time it takes to consume it... Not worth it. I feel unappreciated....See More- 5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoMarilyn Sue thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
- 5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoMarilyn Sue thanked Zalco/bring back Sophie!
- 5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoMarilyn Sue thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
- 5 years ago
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