About five years ago (or maybe less) Mark had duty on Christmas Day. I did not want him to miss yet ANOTHER Christmas dinner/celebration so I decided we would have our big feast on Christmas Eve. It turns out that when you do that, Christmas Day is a breeze!! No rushing to open presents and clean up because you have to cook...it turns Christmas Day into a nice relaxing, enjoy your gifts, sit around and play with the family kind of day. So that became our new tradition, and we love it!
This year is our first 'retired' Christmas! This means there was no trying to figure out 'duty schedules' in advance to see if Mark would be home this year, no having to put in for leave, no duty days during the holidays. This year, Mark is not only HOME for Christmas (eve, day, AND boxing day!) but he is home for ELEVEN days and it only requires him to use FIVE of his banked holidays days! We so love civilian life! :)
So today after hitting the shower, I shall ensconce myself in the kitchen and start doing the things I can do today! I will be making a chocolate pie (Sam and Ben would lead a rebellion if I didn't serve this on Christmas Eve!), Cranberry sauce (Paige and I are purists and will only eat 'real' cranberry sauce!), a broccoli/cauliflower cheese bake (I am so sick of the 'traditional' veggies for the big feast!), and get my stuffing made in advance.
Tomorrow I will put a ham in the oven, Mark will put the turkey on the grill, and I will put the stuffing and the veggie bake in the oven, cook some corn and potatoes (gravy too of course!) and that will take care of that. It will make enough food for leftovers on Christmas day as well! I bought two lovely loaves of organic bread in anticipation of some lovely sammies on Christmas day, but if anyone wants a plate of food, they know where the microwave is! :)
For dinner tonight, I will be making latkes and bacon and sausages..I think I put on five pounds during the holidays, but it is so worth it! The kids love the food traditions as much as all the other things we do...I look forward to the day when they bring THEIR families home for my big dinners!
So off I go to shower and start cooking!
Hugs to all,
Jaye
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