The Adventures of Christmas Eve
In the past Christmas Eve was always spent at my cousin's house in Arcadia. It was quite an adventure considering half that family is Cuban and the other half is Chinese, two of the louder cultures under one roof. Every one who didn't speak at the speed of squirrel got to sit back and watch the show. It was all good fun, lots of food and lots of gifts. This year unfortunately my aunt Nadia Banos passed away. She was always the one to pull these crazy dinners together. I wasn't sure if her passing would affect the tradition, but because the family hadn't said anything about it the rest of us just assumed it wasn't happening. So this year we decided to have a (much smaller) family dinner at my dads house...
We haven't had Christmas dinners in this house, a real one, since before my parents' divorce in 1994. The man-cave (everywhere that is not the bathroom or my room) needed major cleaning. My dad and I have spent the entire day wiping, scrubbing and making (only) the kitchen look civilized. This included scrubbing the floor in segments: a task which the cats couldn't comprehend.
Wet kitty prints on the floor are cute if they're made with water or some other non-potentially poisonous liquid, but we weren't scrubbing with milk. This meant that for the cats' safety we had to keep them outside all day, and they were definitely confused. They stood at the back door for the last 5 hours:
Tibby attempted to persuade us with a persistent glare, while Jacko took the route of an uninterrupted pathetic whine
Seven hours later and we can finally start cooking. On the menu for tonight: Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Deviled Eggs, Stella Rose Sparkling Red Wine, Egg Nog, and for dessert "a chocolate cake thing" according to Christine.
Last time I promised a picture of my scraggly Christmas Tree:
We haven't had Christmas dinners in this house, a real one, since before my parents' divorce in 1994. The man-cave (everywhere that is not the bathroom or my room) needed major cleaning. My dad and I have spent the entire day wiping, scrubbing and making (only) the kitchen look civilized. This included scrubbing the floor in segments: a task which the cats couldn't comprehend.
Wet kitty prints on the floor are cute if they're made with water or some other non-potentially poisonous liquid, but we weren't scrubbing with milk. This meant that for the cats' safety we had to keep them outside all day, and they were definitely confused. They stood at the back door for the last 5 hours:
Tibby attempted to persuade us with a persistent glare, while Jacko took the route of an uninterrupted pathetic whine
Seven hours later and we can finally start cooking. On the menu for tonight: Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Deviled Eggs, Stella Rose Sparkling Red Wine, Egg Nog, and for dessert "a chocolate cake thing" according to Christine.
Last time I promised a picture of my scraggly Christmas Tree: