Mumbling Madly

Because we don’t have any serious tragedy, because we all relatively get along and we enjoy good food, because we like each other’s company and have a lot in common, my outlook on Christmas continues to be merry. The following is a look at the prerequisites to having a happy holiday (broken down into parts):

FOOD
Of course, let’s put the presents aside and remember how truly wonderful it is to sit, cramped and crowded around the dining room table, the tree bumped right up to the table as if a guest itself, wine and sparkling cider flowing the whole evening (not to mention dried fruit, chocolate, and other goodies). My parents busy themselves in the kitchen all night long, pulling out handmade pirogi, seafood pasta, and salad. We burn off our food walking around the neighborhood, my Dad showing off the house down the street with all its horrible blow up Santas, blinking lights, and tinny music playing from little speakers planted inside illuminated plastic trees.

On Christmas Eve my sister and I kicked both parents out and spent the entire day in the kitchen making lasagna. I also made a fig cake (my father loves figs). Gina decked her lasagna out with fake cheese and vegan ingredients while I went all out with the hot sausage, hard boiled egg, and ricotta. I’m always slightly nervous when I cook for my parents (they’re such great cooks) and I want to impress them (and not forget the onion like I once did with the meatballs). I cooked the cake in the morning and prepped the lasagna all afternoon. We wanted to be really busy all day because it was the first Christmas Eve without my brother EVER and Gina and I wanted to distract ourselves. Josh grated an entire block of mozarella cheese and assembled a baby lasagna with all the left over ingredients. It turned out really well…

It’s hard every year to put aside the feelings of guilt over eating piggishly for a week or so…I usually resolve to walk a few miles a day (which isn’t hard because my parents do this consistently) but inevitably I feel jiggly. I try the usual tricks: drinking lot’s of water, filling up on salad first, eating in moderation, avoiding sugary drinks (I’d rather have my sugar in a cookie versus a soda) and helping myself to everything in small portions. It’s inevitable that I’ll eat like a queen…and that’s just fine. There is always chocolate lying around all over the place, from Sees candy to the “chocolates around the world” my dad found at Costco. I drank black coffee in the morning and drank wine every night. I had blue cheese and salami sandwiches on homemade bread for lunch. I took a break from the Italian style holiday food and ate delicacies at my sister-in-law’s house we never had growing up: artichoke dip laden with cheese, french dip sandwiches, and Jello salad.

Every Christmas morning I have my traditional breakfast of chocolate and coffee…well, when I was younger I didn’t have the coffee. But Santa always brought Hershey kisses and I would nervously nibble on them while waiting for my turn to open presents. Many a cold, gray morning was spent waiting for my parents to wake up, waiting for my siblings to assemble under the tree for the doling of presents, and I would feast on my kisses as a way to steal a little holiday sweetness before the Big Day began. As an adult I absolutely love the combination of chocolate and coffee–it is my FAVORITE, and that’s over chocolate with almonds, chocolate with peanut butter, or chocolate with caramel. Who cares if it’s only 8:30 am? It’s never been too early for chocolate.