Surviving the Holidays Part I

We have survived Xmas, Hanukah and the onslaught of the inlaws (I get inlaws and inlaws’ inlaws). K’s brother visited for all of last week, along with his wife and son. They stayed with the DMIL. However, since Big brudder inlaw’s wife’s family all live in town, they were treated to that joy of balancing their time and presence between the two families. They looked pretty tired by the time they left on Sunday. We were able to ease some of that strain by having both tribes at DMIL’s house a three evenings. We had everyone together the night they arrived and for dinner on Xmas ( more about that later). We also had everyone over for the feast of Saint Glutton.

Never heard of the feast of St. Glutton? Neither did I, but it seems to occur the evening of December 24. Here’s how it works. One of the brudder in law’s most endearing qualities is his generosity, which he loves to express through food (and I mean generous food). He and his son went grocery shopping and prepared a dinner at home. Dad made lamb chops on the grill (and I helped), while son cooked a sauce made of cream, wine and a few fine cheeses, which they served over that posh type of ravioli you can buy at whole foods. We cooked about three chops per person and according to the labels, the ravioli should have covered about 1 ½ main courses each. We are all still working on the leftovers. By the way, I found the unintentional symbolism of lamb on Xmas eve to be moderately amusing. At least we didn’t have baby vegetables.

We (just the inlaws and I, not the inlaws’ inlaws) opened gifts later on Xmas eve. That’s convenient, since it gives us something to do while K and I wait until it’s late enough for K to leave for midnight mass. I went to midnight mass once. The music was nice, but otherwise it was the same show you can get at a much more convenient time on Sunday.

Santa, in the disguise of DMIL, gave me a digital camera. Sweet! You can expect a more self-involved blog from now on.

On to Xmas day. Most of the day was spent fretting and setting up a big dinner at DMIL’s house. We had about twelve or fourteen for dinner. Brudder inlaw likes to make prime rib for these occasions, so DMIL ordered a roast from a local butcher. She asked for the largest prime rib they could get, which was probably a mistake. We cooked a 23 pound roast for twelve people, including two women over 85 years old, and a gustatory wimp (me). Lots more leftovers there. Here’s a picture of the charred behemoth. It came out perfectly, like always. At this moment, I am making soup from the seven ribs that cradled the roast.




One of the inlaws’ inlaws gave us the highlight of the evening, when he played a couple of songs on his guitar. This guy is a senior in High School and a pretty nice kid. He is also great at music. He does well in math class, so he’s OK in my book.


Last Friday night, we had some of the visiting folks’ friends at DMIL’s place. More leftovers. Looks like our meat based diet will last at least into the new year.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.