My late mother warmly reminisced every year about her Christmas stocking which included a Clementine, unshelled walnuts, a few hard candies and in the very, very bottom a quarter. Those stockings were the sum total of their material gifts but the traditional Italian Christmas Eve seafood dinner and Christmas day feasting with relatives coming in and out (they all lived in close city neighborhoods) was the real deal. And the love...the feeling of being cherished and belonging to immediate and extended family. When we four daughters were young my mother didn't drive and then didn't have her own car for years. When I was 4 my parents moved us to "the country" in northern Jersey so we could grow up with wondrous woods behind the house in new suburbs. Dad did all the shopping then including for our Christmas presents. After pestering him, a few weeks before Christmas my father would call all four girls into the living room one night after dinner to "make the lists." We would run and jump up to sit on, over and around him on the couch where he fell asleep reading the newspaper after a late dinner every weeknight. He took a pad of paper and divided it into 4 sections with our names. We went around in a circle naming one thing we wanted at a time until we were done. Descriptions were elicited from my father as there were no circulars in those days and my father had not a clue what we were naming. Dad would end by saying he'd make sure Santa got the lists. Probably because it wasn't easy to get 4 girls up, washed & dressed with one bathroom into the car for Mass and then a long day of shuttling between "city grandparents" and family we always opened our presents at a most special time...midnight. We went to bed with such anticipation Christmas Eve and before we knew it my mother was softly waking us up at midnight telling us "Santa was here, come see!" after which we scrambled out of bed with a mixture of grogginess and excitement. I'll never forget the absolute magic of stepping into the hallway and seeing the glow of the lit Christmas tree emanating from the darkened living room with what seemed to be sparkling packages all laid out under the tree in four piles. Once into the living room we'd each find our packages and start to open them. My parents would be slumped in a chair thoroughly exhausted but with the warmest smiles at our delight and their joy. There was always a plate of the butter cookies (pink stars and flowers & green Christmas trees) we'd made with my father one night the week before Christmas to eat while we opened gifts. My paternal grandmother always made an Italian knot cookie with red, white and green lemon flavored icing. I somehow came to be the one out the four girls who took on that task as adults. Now all my nieces and nephews would disown me if I didn't have a huge rainbow platter of those cookies for them on Christmas. Then there's the Italian Wedding Soup...home made chicken stock with tiny meatballs (ground veal & chicken base) with the finest hairs of pasta. The meatballs for so many take one whole day on their own to make but they can be frozen ahead of time thank goodness. The kids would riot if their Nanny's "little meatball soup" wasn't on the Christmas day menu. The granchildren are now aged 21-27 but it was intentional on the part of my mother and we four sisters to make sure we passed on traditions to them so they'd have a bond to their past and each other. "Christmas Cookies" started out with each of us 4 girls making one or two batches to bring to my parent's house for Christmas day dessert along with a cake so the kids could sing "Happy Birthday Jesus." They must have learned that in their parochial schools as they demanded it but I went through 12 years of Catholic school and don't remember that particular thing being taught. Of course we did it for them as requested anyway. As my sisters started their families and ran short of time I started taking on more of the cookie baking. It's one of those things that just creeps up on you over the years until you don't know how you ended baking up to 14 varieties of cookies, each of which is someone's favorite, plus the traditional iced Italian knot cookies. The traditional Italian Struffoli (feather light honey drizzled balls) have been bought from an Italian bakery for years. My older sister and I tried our hand at them one year decades ago and they came out like lead cannon balls...LOL. The many batches of cookies get divided up into tins everyone brings and taken for enjoyment back at everyone's respective homes all Christmas week. My father's favorites are the Linzer Tortes my older sister makes for him every year. Everyone loves her Neopolitan cookies (3 colored layers, apricot jam in between & boiled chocolate icing all around) which are worlds beyond the ones you get in the store. This will be our fourth Christmas without my Mom and I naively thought missing her as the heart of our family would be tempered each successive year but it's not. Keeping the traditions she gave us is some comfort and seeing the kids faces as they scoff up multiple bowls of their grandmother's "little meatball soup" is one of the most touching times of the whole day. My older sister is farthest along in keeping a "family recipe cookbook" on the computer for her 2 daughters. So much of the cooking of my grandmothers and mother were never by "written recipe" and I'm thankful my older sister and father took the time to record recipes while those amazing women were still with us. How ironic that the one out of four daughters who never cooked much(me) has ended up "doing holidays" since my Mom passed away. I don't know how women do it continuously over decades...kind of like how I'm constantly amazed at how women here on the forums do so much with their gardening among all their other responsibilities. The holiday traditions are for generational continuity and priceless memories. It's a sense of "place" and belonging no matter where family members scatter through the years. Sorry I rambled so...time of year with so many memories.

Jo, It's amazing how the minute you cross the state line prices jump across the board no matter what the purchase. On one of our trips to White Flower Farm we stopped at a grocery store to see if the western part of the state was any different. Nope, the Litchfield Hills are, if anything, higher. Yeah, I'm sure Guilford has to be pretty similar to Mystic; maybe, even higher since you're closer to the City. Cloud swift, I just checked the Costco website to see if they perhaps had a new store but, alas, there's no store within 50 miles of Mystic. :( It's a zoning thang...Mystic doesn't even allow fast food restaurants except the one McDs at the entrance to I-95 & that's because of the large numbers of tourists visiting the Seaport & aquarium (McDs is basically right across the street from the aquarium). Walmart tried to get a store in...holy cow, you'd have thought it was a adult toy store the way voters responded! So, even our closest Wally World is a good ten miles away...over in the inland part of Groton. Doesn't really matter 'cause DH & I don't shop there anyway...personal protest thing. New England zoning laws discourage competition from large national stores...it interfers with the Norman Rockwell'ness of the area. There was a fire in downtown Mystic about six years ago & we lost an entire building. An out-of-state developer purchased the shell with the intent of rebuilding with the first floor retail & the upper floors high-end condos. Every plan they've submitted has been shot down by either the voters or the Historical Committee. I 'almost' feel sorry for the developers...they seriously underestimated the power of the New England Town Meeting! :) The whole issue revolves around windows. The developer wants to put large windows in the back of the building that overlooks Mystic River & the Seaport. They say buyers want large windows. The Historical Commitee & the voters say, "We don't care what your buyers want. Large windows are NOT appropriate to a first quarter 19th century New England building. They must be small." (So small...you can't meet fire code!) So, the building sits boarded up. I understand there's another "plan" to be presented sometime next spring. We'll see... It's not just groceries or gas or housing costs...once you get the flour home then the electricity rates to bake the bread are the 3rd highest in the nation behind only Hawaii & our dear neighbors Rhode Island. All of New England has a high cost of living. We used to ask about it when we first moved here but were always met with a blank stare & a response of, "Yeah, and your point is???" So, we don't ask anymore. We've just adjusted. When I look at these electric rates it's almost funny how much cheaper they are outside New England. All that said, I love living in New England & I wouldn't leave easily. So, maybe after living here for twenty years I finally understand all of those blank stares about the cost of living followed by the, "And your point is???" /tricia

OK, I'll weigh in here, I've had Christmas Eve dinner for 40 for about 25 years in a row now, LOL. I agree with Chase, you'll need more lasagna. And, unless your family is much different than mine, you won't need two green salads, I always have salad left over no matter what kind I make, plus it's messy to try to eat leafy greens while standing. I'd go with the caesar, a fruit salad, cut out the pasta salad and have more lasagna. It's easier to make a lot of one thing, instead of a bunch of smaller things. The cookies can be made ahead and frozen, so can most cakes, just don't frost them. Breads can also be made and frozen, I've even frozen bread dough for up to 3 months and then thawed it and baked it, ditto cookie dough. The kids will go for the mac and cheese, the lasagna and those "pigs in a blanket" or chicken fingers type of dish. You could do an assortment of chicken wings or strips if you want to add chicken. The best advice I can give you is to make everything ahead that you can, even lasagna can be made ahead and frozen. Good luck, relax and have fun. And make sure everyone knows about that peanut allergy if they are providing food and that includes the catered portion. Annie

Years ago I came across a letter on the Internet that someone sent to the rest of her family to help plan and organize the upcoming Thanksgiving meal. The letter starts with ... As you all know a fabulous Thanksgiving Dinner does not make itself. I need to ask each of you to help by bringing something to help complete the meal. I truly appreciate your offers to assist with the meal preparation. Now, while I do have quite a sense of humor and joke around all the time, I COULD NOT BE MORE SERIOUS when I am providing you with your Thanksgiving instructions and orders. I am very particular, so please perform your task EXACTLY as I have requested and read your portion very carefully. If I ask you to bring your offering in a container that has a lid, bring your offering in a container WITH A LID, NOT ALUMINUM FOIL! If I ask you to bring a serving spoon for your dish, BRING A SERVING SPOON, NOT A SOUP SPOON! And please do not forget anything. It then proceeds to give (very) detailed instructions to each of the members of the family who will be coming about what to bring and how much. https://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2009/11/26/awkward-family-story-the-thanksgiving-letter/ my favorite is where she instructs one family member to bring a casserole dish of turnips but then adds don't feel you have to feed an army, most of us hate turnips.