Today is the last day of work before the holidays. My grocery list is made and organized by department. I always make my list with veggies, breads, meat, dairy, all catagorized as it is as you walk through the store. Saves a lot of frustration that way. Does that seem micromanaging?
After a lot of thought, I have decided to keep it really simple this year with the menu. Instead of beef, we are having turkey for Christmas dinner. I really enjoy making classic turkey dinners, and the menu includes cornbread dressing with dried cranberries and fruit, homemade cranberry sauce with oranges, jello and fruit salad (of course), brocolli with cheese sauce, riced potatoes and gravy, yellow turnips which we call rutabeggas, and a fresh green salad with homemade vinaigrette.
Christmas Eve we are going to church because I am in the bell choir. Services don't start until 10:30, so I thought something simple would be good for dinner. I've decided on meatloaf--comfort food Christmas Eve--meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans with almonds, bibb lettuce salad with spiced pecans, and cheesecake with strawberries for dessert.
Right now that seems like a lot of food, but as the holidays progress, I'm sure all that will be very tasty. I bought a small wheel of Brie, and will have snacks of shrimp and Jarlsberg cheese. I'm looking for ways to use George's new deep fryer. I usually don't make deep fried foods, so this is going to be an adventure in the kitchen. George sent me an email yesterday about the seven fish dinner that the Italians have at Christmas. I wish I had someone to make seven kinds of fish dishes for us. Sounds stressful :-)
We are going to make gingerbread men on Thursday evening after Michael and Michelle arrive, so everyone will have a chance to decorate them. I'm looking forward to going out for a steak dinner that evening at a Boston landmark, The Hilltop. We will take Michelle for the tour of the famous Saugus Christmas lights neighborhood. I am hoping to get in a tour of the North End and maybe a stop at an Italian coffee shop for coffee and dessert.
George is delivering presents today and we have decided to buy a new spritz cookie press. The old-fashioned metal one with the screw mechanism I have had for years is buried in storage somewhere, and it looks so out of date compared to the new white ones.
On a more serious note, I have a good friend at work who was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, and I am driving him to a doctor appointment today and to the grocery store and helping him get his groceries to his third floor apartment. We are also making a trip to his house with Christmas dinner on Christmas Day and last night I bought him a Hollyberry Yankee candle as a Christmas gift. It is sobering, to say the least, to see how life can change so fast. I am praying that the chemo and treatment will help him quickly. The pressure on his chest is painful and he is using a small portable oxygen tank. They said to him that the bad news is it is a fast growing tumor, but the good news is that it is also the kind of cancer that is quick to accept treatment. I will do what we can to help him in any way we can and I am very happy that he is so willing to accept my offers of help.
Enjoy the day.
