Christmas is one week and one day away. WHERE did the year go? It was a mere 5 months ago that I had my surgery. I can't believe how quickly time is flying by...it saddens me that my children are growing up so quickly. New Years Resolution #3: enjoy the time spent with my kids more.
With the holidays comes...food. Ah, my arch nemesis. We shall meet again. This Christmas is going to revolve around food, and because of my surgery I am confident that my waistband will not expand this year. We have two parties to attend on Christmas Eve, then on Christmas Day we are heading to my parents' house for yet another feast.
Christmas Eve party #1 will take us to my parents' house to exchange gifts with my sister and her husband. My grandparents will be there, and my uncle may pop in with his girlfriend. I hope he does! We are planning a huge smorgasboard of appetizer-y type foods. I myself am taking four dishes: some form of chicken wings (I haven't decided on the exact sauce yet), cocktail meatballs, buffalo chicken wing dip, and amaretti cookies. My mother's hobby is cooking, and she's amazing at it. She is making several dishes (that I will talk about in a later post), and my brother-in-law is making his famous mini calzones. Can't have an Italian gathering without some sort of Italian food! We tend to have enough food for the entire county, but none of us mind.
Christmas Eve party #2 will find us at my husband's parents' house for our annual Dinner of the Seven Fishes and gift exchange. My sister-in-law started this tradition over 10 years ago, one that we all look forward to and enjoy. Strangely enough, she's not Italian (for those of you who don't know, it is a traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner) but those of us who enjoy seafood are entirely grateful! My husband's family is quite large, so there will be a houseful of people bringing a seafood dish to add to the spread. Typically we always have lobster bisque, hand-breaded haddock, bacon-wrapped scallops, clam strips, and crab legs. There are always a couple of new recipes to try, which will round out the seven. And dessert! Who can forget dessert?
Christmas Day we will head back to my parents' to hang out and exchange gifts with my aunt and cousin. The plan is to snack on all of the left overs from the day before, then finish up the day with a boiled ham dinner. For those of you who don't know what it is (I thought everyone knew, but apparently there are some that don't), boiled dinner is a ham, potatoes, carrots, onions, and cabbage all--you guessed it--boiled in one pot. It is one of my favorites.
Can you hear the button on my pants pop off and fly across the room?
Let's talk a little about Christmas cookies. I'm in full-on cookie mode. I'm going to be baking several different kinds through out the week, for gifts and the different gatherings. I'm not going to say what kinds at this point, so as not to spoil it for those that are receiving them as gifts. I think I'm making so many cookies lately because it warms up the kitchen (didn't they put heat in kitchens 40 years ago??) and makes it smell homey in here.
No baking today though...I have a turkey in the oven! I bought one fairly cheap after Thanksgiving, and it's been thawing in the refrigerator for a week and a half now. Would you believe it was still semi-frozen? It sat in a sinkful of cold water this morning to speed up the process. This sucker is a whopping 21 pounds...what was I thinking? What the hell am I gonna do with 21 pounds of turkey??
Perhaps this post gives you some indication as to why I had surgery. I will always be the foodie fat girl, no matter what my body size is.
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