After a quiet morning (and after some epic presents were exchanged - my personal favourite being the avocado slicer and masher) hubby and I headed over to Mimi's house in Red Oak for our first (yes, first) Christmas dinner. We were greeted by lots of extended family who had all mucked in to create a wonderful meal! There was ham, prime rib, brussel sprouts (YES!), green bean casserole, rolls, cheese potatoes, chopped salad, a rice dish (incredibly delicious but I have no idea what it was), trifle, pecan pie and much more! After more present opening, we went and chose some furniture from cousin Bob's lock-up (including a washer and dryer which are arriving today and I am so grateful for!!!) and then headed over to the in-laws for our second Christmas dinner (I'd paced myself in the first: I'd stretched, I'd meditated, I'd imagined the goal...I was ready). My mother-in-law had created a masterpiece of turkey, ham, mashed potato, corn, rolls, green bean casserole and stuffing (or 'dressing' over here). She had also made a variety of Christmas candy that were chocolatey, coco-nutty, pecany and pretzely. Needless to say, our fridge is now stocked with left-overs which we will be nibbled throughout the day.
The icing on the cake was when I was presented with a box of Christmas crackers and a Christmas pudding to make me feel at home!
This is a Christmas cracker (I'm not being patronising or filling space in my blog because I've run out of things to say (...), I just know that many of my US friends have never heard of the strange English tradition of pulling crackers at the dinner table. And no, it's not rude):
You pull it like this:
(I am slightly concerned for this woman as I know how sudden and with great force a Christmas cracker can crack. I hope the floor was padded.)
Once the cracker has cracked, a prize, a joke/game and a paper crown tumble out for your pleasure. It is custom for the crowns to be worn throughout the Christmas meal, unless you're like my hubby who rips his when he tries to ram it on his head (there has to be a certain amount of finesse to the art of paper crowning).
FYI: There were no pigs in blankets on my Christmas dinner plate as over here they look like this...
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...and it would be weird to have a weener in a roll with turkey and bean casserole. In England, our pigs in blankets are sausages wrapped in bacon and are a traditional part of the Christmas dinner.
FYI again: They don't celebrate Boxing Day over here!!! Apparently the tradition stems from when servants and tradesmen would receive boxes of gifts from their bosses the day after Christmas. It is recognised as a holiday in the UK, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago and a few other Commonwealth nations. Basically, it's Christmas Day number two and a chance to roll around in food-baby agony from the day before (especially if you had two Christmas dinners - my fingers can barely type and look like pigs in blankets, the fat, weener-in-a-roll type)
To sum up, Christmas day over here is pretty much the same with a few differences and twists, but the main part is that family come together and bless the 'fribbits' (another hubby word) out of each other while remembering how baby Jesus came to bless the 'fribbits' out of us.
Merry Christmas y'all!!!
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