Today I'm stuffing and cooking a bird and preparing homemade chopped liver (not to be eaten in the same meal, lol)...oh the complexities of celebrating both Hanukkah and Christmas! Happy Hanu-mas and Merry Christmakkah to one and all!
oh yes, we did get our christmas dinner catered! But we decided we wanted to have a turkey for leftovers so I stuffed and cooked one up on Christmas eve day. The catering was pretty good. We ended up combining the stuffing from the caterer with what I made so it would taste more like our family recipe and we also cooked some brussel sprouts too as everybody in our family expects them and they weren't in the caterer's menu. So we did still work a bit in the kitchen.
We had a small Hanukkah celebration on Christmas eve. It was quiet (just my parents and me) and lovely and because Christmas was being catered we didn't have to rush around doing all sorts of kitchen work that night.
It was quite excellent. So nice not to be rushing around trying to get the meal ready. I was actually able to enjoy the meal to because sometimes when I'm cooking it I find I am so tired from cooking that I just don't enjoy myself.
Oh and here is the best part......none of the rest of the family know that it was catered.... :D WE NEVER TOLD THEM!!!! We had everything in dishes and just popped it in a low oven to reheat.
The menu was butternut squash and apple soup (which was divine), roast turkey, green beans, carrots, garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and assorted cookies and squares. We did add the brussel sprouts and also a traditional english trifle which we'd made ahead. But again they were all done a day or two ahead so there was no fuss!!!
We will most definitely getting it catered again but right now we are debating whether my mom dad and I should go away on a cruise next Christmas. Yes it means that the rest of the family would be on their own for Christmas but most of them don't seem to notice or appreciate the effort we put into the holiday in the first place. My mom was irritated by the family and their lack of commitment to being together on Christmas. My brother's family was only here for a total of 4 hours...basically just enough time to open a couple presents, eat our food and leave. They were out the door before the dishes were cleared from the table. My sister and her partner had originally said that they were going to go away to a hotel in Toronto for a Christmas vacation (but in the end they didn't) without a second thought about whether we would be all together for the holiday. So why do we bust our asses to pull it all together when we could be lounging on the Lido deck of a ship and having our every whim catered too? Sounds pretty good doesn't it?
oops, except my SIL has seen this post two days ago...my mistake... ;0) I just edited it to remove her from the list. Hopefully she didn't read the comments about catering.
Ha ha! My mom and I just had a good laugh over this tonight. We can't believe we got away with hiring a caterer and nobody in the family knows except my dad!
:-). Have fun, Melissa!
ReplyDeleteA multi cultural holiday...
ReplyDeleteI like it!
Haha! Merry Christmakkah! :)
ReplyDeleteI hope your celebrations went well. Didn't you get things catered?
ReplyDeleteOh, I forgot about that? How did things go?
ReplyDeleteoh yes, we did get our christmas dinner catered! But we decided we wanted to have a turkey for leftovers so I stuffed and cooked one up on Christmas eve day. The catering was pretty good. We ended up combining the stuffing from the caterer with what I made so it would taste more like our family recipe and we also cooked some brussel sprouts too as everybody in our family expects them and they weren't in the caterer's menu. So we did still work a bit in the kitchen.
ReplyDeleteWe had a small Hanukkah celebration on Christmas eve. It was quiet (just my parents and me) and lovely and because Christmas was being catered we didn't have to rush around doing all sorts of kitchen work that night.
ReplyDeleteIt was quite excellent. So nice not to be rushing around trying to get the meal ready. I was actually able to enjoy the meal to because sometimes when I'm cooking it I find I am so tired from cooking that I just don't enjoy myself.
ReplyDeleteOh and here is the best part......none of the rest of the family know that it was catered.... :D WE NEVER TOLD THEM!!!! We had everything in dishes and just popped it in a low oven to reheat.
The menu was butternut squash and apple soup (which was divine), roast turkey, green beans, carrots, garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and assorted cookies and squares. We did add the brussel sprouts and also a traditional english trifle which we'd made ahead. But again they were all done a day or two ahead so there was no fuss!!!
We will most definitely getting it catered again but right now we are debating whether my mom dad and I should go away on a cruise next Christmas. Yes it means that the rest of the family would be on their own for Christmas but most of them don't seem to notice or appreciate the effort we put into the holiday in the first place. My mom was irritated by the family and their lack of commitment to being together on Christmas. My brother's family was only here for a total of 4 hours...basically just enough time to open a couple presents, eat our food and leave. They were out the door before the dishes were cleared from the table. My sister and her partner had originally said that they were going to go away to a hotel in Toronto for a Christmas vacation (but in the end they didn't) without a second thought about whether we would be all together for the holiday. So why do we bust our asses to pull it all together when we could be lounging on the Lido deck of a ship and having our every whim catered too? Sounds pretty good doesn't it?
sounds like you guys are more than deserving of a treat to yourselves. you should totally do it.
ReplyDeleteMarvelous.
ReplyDeleteDid you smile and gracefully accept the compliments on the meal?
oops, except my SIL has seen this post two days ago...my mistake... ;0) I just edited it to remove her from the list. Hopefully she didn't read the comments about catering.
ReplyDeleteyup, sure did!
ReplyDeleteJust re-read the posts and checked the viewing history and I'm pretty sure SIL read this before any of the catering comments so we are good!
ReplyDeleteSneaky girl!
ReplyDeletePssst.... gotta love the viewing history thingy.
ReplyDeleteHa ha! My mom and I just had a good laugh over this tonight. We can't believe we got away with hiring a caterer and nobody in the family knows except my dad!
ReplyDelete