Christmas break

Christmas Eve day was our real Christmas this year. Becky, Bridgette and Mike came over to the farm about 7:30 am. We had a good visit through the day, disrupted only for an hour or so when Grandma and Grandpa came over. Grandma was in one of her tears and thinking she was being funny in her comments, managed to hurt just about everyone’s feelings in one way or another in the first thirty minutes in the house. Things calmed down after an hour or so, but the tension was palpable. We decided somewhere along the way to delay dinner so Victoria could share the meal with all of us, so I rearranged the baking and warming schedules to accommodate the delay. Even with that, some things were a tad cold when we did start to eat. No one complained. It was all still very good and for those who wanted, we had two microwaves to nuke to cooler items.

Grandma and Grandpa stayed a couple hours but left before we ate. Before Victoria got home. Grandpa said he was not feeling well and could not get comfortable at the house. We made a roll for each of them. Grandma had turkey on hers. Grandpa had jelly on his. They took off while Mama and I were out feeding – trying to get that done so we could sit down and enjoy the meal once we started to serve the food. Plus, we took some time with Bridgette in the paddock with the goats.

Trace and his crew came over for the meal. Seven adults and five kids, and we still had a huge amount of leftovers. I sent the turkey legs home with Mike, who does not typically eat turkey. With this he obviously made an exception. I had smoked a turkey the night before, so it needed only to be warmed through. I almost wish I had gone ahead and smoked it that day, but I was not aware of our delay in dinner time until around 11 am on Christmas Eve day so the turkey warmed a lot longer than I had intended. Plus, it would have added more unnecessary complications to the day.

As it was, I spend most of my time cleaning up the kitchen and washing dishes as we snacked and ate through the morning and early afternoon. That gave Mama time to spend with Bridgette. And with all the other grandchildren (through electronic means). Brittany’s crew, Cori’s crew, Maggie’s crew, and Chase’s little Owen. Mama got to see Makayla’s bulging belly and was excited about the approaching delivery dates for her and Brittany. Becky and her crew headed home in the early evening, about 6 pm. They were home by midnight. Mama and I appreciated the effort and expense of the travel required for the one-day visit. I think Grandma did as well. It was hard to tell.

I ate very little Christmas Eve. The pain was still too intense and the food still to heavy for my ailing digestive tract. I did thoroughly enjoy the company. I fared better on Christmas Day at our dinner with the Chinese families. We ate from a hot pot. A pot of continuously boiling water into which you can out anything you want. A base is added to the water to flavor the broth, so even the broth is good by itself. It is like making your own soup as you go along. Everything is hot – very hot – when you are ready to eat it so there is no hurry to eat. I like the concept and I was able to eat most of what had been cut to be cooked. Shrimp, all kinds of fish balls and noodles, little Korean sausages, leafy greens, tofu in multiple forms, congealed pork blood, tallow, white carrot, chicken gizzard, etc. Cooked separately were a whole fish and a very large crab. Mama and Victoria ate only what they wanted to of all that mix. We sat, talked and ate for more than an hour and the food was always very hot. It was fun. Some of the noodles and fish balls were sent home with us to make a soup out of. We will do just that.

On Christmas Day, Mama, Victoria and I rearranged the kitchen to accommodate a coffee bar. We bought Victoria a dual coffee maker for Christmas. It is more or less a Keurig and a coffee pot in one unit. To house it, we moved a cabinet to another wall, moved our water filter and slid in place an old oak dresser recovered from the Bowie farmhouse. It looks very nice. it freed up a large amount of counter space as well as allowing us to rearrange items in the two cabinets we had to move. Eliminating a few old items hidden in the back of the cabinets. All that work removed a lot of clutter. I always enjoy that. Teas and coffees are now conveniently located in the coffee bar.

Yesterday evening we went to church. There were far more in attendance than I expected. About ninety of us. It was a good service. A great way to end Christmas day.