Sod off, Swampy. Trying to stop la famille du Toit from getting together at this time of year would take a company of Marines, and even that might not work.
We do Christmas meals a little differently from most people. It’s too long a back story to tell now, but basically, we stagger our Christmas meals so that various of the family members can visit with their in-laws, girlfriends’ / boyfriends’ parents on Christmas Day.
So Christmas Day is always devoted to an early-morning present-opening ceremony, followed by a Full English breakfast:
…after which the kids scatter to the four winds.
That was yesterday.
Today is Boxing Day (in Britishland), which is when the family comes back to our place for a proper Christmas dinner (roast beef with Yorkshire pudding):
That will be this evening… and I’m still full from yesterday.
Have mercy.
My mother in law, wife and daughter in law, of Czech, Czech-Hungarian and Irish extraction and our Polish friends laboured mightily in their respective kitchens literally for days.
We ate non-stop starting Christmas eve at about 5 pm, all through Christmas day and will continue through Boxing day, today. Our pantries, kitchen fridge, garage fridge and Canadian yard freezers are still full. Turkey, ham, goose, venison, sausages, I cannot look at any more food, let the young ones carry on.
Canadian yard freezers? It’s minus 40 degrees here right now and the inside of a BBQ or even a plastic tub work just fine as a place to keep food frozen.
The Pole introduced me to Zubrowka vodka, and I wish he had not.
This is like people whining at me about (re-)awakening their gun lust and the ensuing poverty… it may sound piteous, but it isn’t at all.
Kim, that dinner looks wonderful.
My mother used to make that for the holidays and I miss her terribly.
That “proper Christmas dinner” looks like part of what Mom puts together for Christmas. She figured out how to do the roast on the grill (pretty sure it involves putting the roast on one side and lighting only one or two burners on the other side for indirect heat) to free up oven space for sides: potatoes roasted in duck fat, Yorkshire pudding, candied parsnips, and a bunch of other stuff I can’t recall right now.
Being widowered, I alternate between visiting my parents in Ohio and staying in Las Vegas, visiting my in-laws. This year was an in-law year, and their tradition is to hit up some fancy restaurant for dinner. This year, it was Del Frisco’s, with steaks all around. Too bad they all ruined theirs by asking for medium-well or well-done…de gustibus non est disputandum, I suppose. At least nobody asked for ketchup, as Mark Levin is known to put on his steaks. As for me, my ribeye was medium-rare, as it should be.
Christmas lunch in our place tends to start at mid-day with something fizzy (and I don’t mean lemonade) to accompany the seafood and blinis whilst the main course finishes. People wander about, scoffing Dublin bay prawns, smoked salmon and caviar (yes, really) whilst awaiting the main event.
Onto the table went slow roast gammon, studded with cloves with a honey/mustard coriander and orange juice glaze making the fat dark thick and crusty (no, not Mr Truebrit). The turkey accompanied it, under its lattice blanket of bacon – both to be carved at the table. Roasties, Yorkies, green veg, broccoli and cauliflower cheese, roast parsnips and carrots kept it company, along with several pints of gravy. Apple sauce, cranberry and bread sauces joined in as well.
Christmas pudding, dark and fragrant with brandy, followed, with thick custard. Then along came pineapple carrapacio and thinly sliced juicy oranges, apricots, cranberries and a bowl of nuts and seeds.
Just in case anyone was peckish, out comes the cheese board with Brie, baked Camenbert, vintage cheddar, a Cheshire and a blue – naturally, crackers, good bread and grapes filled in the gaps.
Later, if anyone was hungry, Turkey sarnies could be had.
Everyone was round my place yesterday evening for gravelax, ham, and champagne; it took us that long to recover from the Christmas Day lunch. A good time was had by all.