where's the thread to tell you that I've finished my Christmas shopping?
 

Yes. I have pretty much finished. The kids are done. I just have my mom and dad and MIL left. My feet are KILLING me!!
I think I must have surely burned off another 500 calories shopping. I think I also burned about 500 bucks.
I need a drink.

Please tell me what you're serving for Christmas dinner. I need inspiration. Last year I balked and made chicken in white wine crepes. I really don't want to cook a turkey... any wise words?

xoxo

Going to mothers for dinner. We usually have turkey and sometimes roast beef too. I think I will make sweet potatoes to take out, and maybe a low cal desert.
Virginia

We are making a Ham with scalloped potatoes and mixed veg for Christmas day. My parents aren't big turkey people. My Mum is making the sherry trifle-it ain't Christmas without the trifle! :T

We are making the turkey (DH gets a free one from work) on Boxing day with all the usual trimmings and pie for dessert as we are having a few friends over to help us eat it.

Cripes! That means that I am entertaining three days in a row :eek: Thank goodness DH is doing a lot of the cooking!

I have half my gifts bought, the liquor store run is done, a third of the groceries are done.

Could you tell an ignorant, non-Canadian what "Boxing Day" is all about?? Do I need gloves? ;)

PS...I'm done shopping for what needs to be mailed, AND mailed them...whew! Kinda halfway done with kids...still need to shop for nieces/nephews, my parents, brothers and sister and their families, bake, get a tree, decorate it, finish house decorations, send cards...

...uh, yeah, I'm almost done!

I think it started in Britain or Europe. Boxing day was the day after Christmas and you were supposed to box up food and clothing and go about distributing it to the poor.

Don't quote me on this though :lol:

DH's stuff to get and doggie gifts and that will be IT! Wrapping and mailing is waaaaaay behind. It may be a Purolator Christmas!

I too am almost finished the dreaded christmas shopping. I would rather give gifts through the year when i find stuff for people rather than searching for something just for the sake of it but thats life.

AS for what we have for Christmas day, hmmmmm well cause its Summer here and gets really hot usually most of the time its all cold stuff like ham, salads, huge fruit platters. Some years we do large seafood platters, were not into the hot lunch or dinner mainly due to the heat but hey if it was winter there would be heaps of stuff to make.

As Im vegie I wouldn't make ham or seafood but would probalby make salads, maybe a nut loaf with gravy and other stuff.

Hope everyone understands what Ive written im not really with it today.

:dizzy:

I am not done with shopping at all - you all are very impressive & well organized!

I have done the girlies' stockings (the 6 year old tells me she knows it isn't Santa, Santa isn't real - no one told her, she says, she just figured it out). I have got most of their presents but need to get them a few books too.

DH and I will probably give each other stockings too, and maybe buy each other some books together so we can get just what we like. I have not really done anything much towards this end. Nor have I shopped successfully for the rest of the family. I HAVE staggered around several stores in my usual amnesiac glazed state thinking "Now why the **** did I come in here anyway?" - very productive indeed!

Christmas cards are not done at all - we'll be lucky to have finished those in February!

We will get a tree in as soon as we manage to take down the balloons from last month's birthday revels (Two down, two to go!).

We are probably eating turkey, stuffing, veggies and pumpkin pie and plum pudding.

One child has requested Yorkshire pudding (I finally guessed after she said you know Mom, those brown things, from last year, they're really good! Darling, I can hardly remember what we ate last week, never mind last YEAR! I said cheerfully. But we sorted it out in the end!) so perhaps roast beast is in the offing.

I am not big on meat so I'd prefer turkey. So probably turkey and Yorkshire pudding, plus whatever else I said!

Lidian

I am done shopping. My dad needs help w/ one gift. Cards were all mailed out today. I will wrap sometime this week. Dinner on Xmas Eve is going to be Prime Rib. I will not be partaking. It makes my gall bladder hurt. I will enjoy the side dishes. I think Christmas day will be an easy kid friendly dinner. We will all be beat. Dad works that night, bf works first thing in the morning. Maybe a chicken in the crock pot with some baked potatos and green salad. Not festive, yummy and everyone will eat. Or maybe shredded chicken tacos with ff refried beans. Yum, that sounds even better. ~flower

Yum! I will be dropping 'round to each of your homes at Christmas. So don't be surprised if you see a pudgy woman on your doorstep with a big messy bun and a beam on her face.

Kat, are "ignorant" and "non-Canadian" synonymous? :lol: I think Mauvais is right about Boxing day. And something about emptying the church boxes to help the less fortunate. All I know is that it's DH's birthday, damnit. What a time to have a baby.

One of gifts we got the kids this year is an audio book each. I bought a Roald Dahl for our six year old, and .... I forget what I picked up for our 13 year old. She's still sleeping in her brother's room because of the "suicide thing", and they're both very comfortable in there. And they occasionally listen to audio tapes at night together when they're tucked into their beds.
Anyway, we usually borrow the tapes from the library. I had no idea how expensive they are to buy!! The one for my daughter was 60 bucks!!

I've convinced mom to make steak and kidney pie for their family dinner. She makes a wicked one! I wonder if I could convince her to make Yorkshire puddings on the side. Lidian, we make ours in muffin cups... do you make one big one?

Hi Ellis! We make our in muffin cups too - last time we used Jamie Oliver's recipe off the Food Network site (using mucho oil in muffin cups) but they did not turn out as high and spectacular as the ones on TV (of course he always makes it look so easy!).

I have also made toad in the hole (sausages in Yorkshire pudding batter, basically) in a single pan but it doesn't rise enough (when I make it!). I think the idea is getting the pan and drippings/oil really hot before you bung in the batter.

Toad in the hole, what a name! My DH (the Marmite-loving Brit) likes it but he doesn't get it too often cuz it has about a million grams of fat in it. I used to make steak and kidney pie for him long ago (a great idea for Christmas dinner, BTW) but that was when I was 15 years younger, less grey and had no children!

Lidian

You know, I've never had toad-in-the-hole. I wonder if it's a snob thing on my parents' part... must ask them. It sounds really good. :D
That reminds me... we have a tradition that I started several years ago. I'm always up first, and I make popovers for breakfast. We eat them with butter before opening our gifts. It just wouldn't be Xmas without my popovers! Oh... and they're low-fat, too! (sans butter)
Lidian... do you ever make Cornish pasties? Den? Mauvais? Ruth?
HEY!! Maybe THAT'S what I should make! I could even make them ahead of time and freeze them. Everyone loves them.

Hi Ellis, Nope, I've never made Cornish pasties though I used to offer to make em (when I was younger/kinder/childless!). DH does not like them for some reason. He does like Melton Mowbray pie (raised pork pie) but you can buy these. My MIL makes a pork and hard boiled egg pie that is brilliant but I can't do this sort of thing! If I cook at all I like baking (bread, cookies, muffins!) - North American stuff!

I will make mincemeat tarts though, at Christmas. DH eats them with brandy butter (i.e. hard sauce in my native language!)

Lidian

NOPE!! One of my relatives makes a ton at a time and freezes them. Wish she'd give ME some!! I love 'em!! We have a place locally that sells homemade Pasties, but it is expensive.

It is funny how you get used to cooking certain things and others seem difficult. My Grannie (English) LOVES my muffins, and they seem so easy to me, but some of the stuff SHE thinks is easy seems hard to me. Actually she can't really cook much anymore. Last time my Mom went I sent a bunch of muffins in her suitcase!!!!

I make my yorkshire pudding in a muffin tin too! I like them that way and everyone gets their own individual one. I think the trick is to put the oil in the muffin tin and then pop it into a preheated oven. Then you have to wait and watch carefully until the oil gets really hot, then you pull the rack out and drop the batter in and shove the tray back in.

My mum used to make cornish pasties before my dad became a vegetarian. She still occasionally makes steak and sausage pie and sausage rolls (which she is making for Christmas Eve:T )

I have only made cornish pasties once or twice. I should try to make a batch and freeze them-they would be great for lunches-better than frozen pizza pockets anyday! :lol:

One of my favorite dishes my Mum makes is "mince and doughballs" it is a stew made with hamburger meat, diced carrots and potatoes, onions and seasonings. The doughballs (made with flour, milk, butter and baking soda) are basically dumplings but you put them in the stew pot halfway through cooking so that they cook right in the gravy! :T Darn! Now I'm hungry, maybe I'll call my Mum....:chin:

Ellis my dear, the folks around here are lucky these days if I make them spaghetti or open a can of soup!:lol:

If I spend a lot of time cooking something or making Cornish pasties etc, my darling girls would taste them and then say (in contemplative, sad, polite chorus): Gee thanks Mooomm, I like it but...I don't really LIKE it. (They are very sweet & honest!)

I have a friend who says when you cook for children, you should just show them the dinner and throw it out cuz that's where it's going to end up anyway!:lol:

On occasion I will make spicy Indian curried lentils because my youngest likes them & so do I - go figure! She likes bean soup too which we call 'beanie soup' (goes with 'greenie peas')!

My eldest would be pleased to live on buttered toast and cocoa, but she will eat a few other items. She likes salad, which is good, and chicken, and pasta & pizza. Not that you all wanted to know!

I have had to tell myself that what I eat has nothing to do with what the rest of them eat. DH can (& will, bless his cotton socks!) eat just about anything. Course, he does get to go out for lunch a few times a week so he doesn't have it so bad!

Mauvais, I never heard of mince & doughballs (my goodness!) but I'll bet my MIL has (she is British, just like DH, not surprisingly). I have heard of suet pudding. DH played the role of one in a school play, I think.

Lidian

Lidian, I'm the same with cooking. If DH comes home to a prepared dinner twice a week he's lucky.
Probably if I didn't receive so many darned complaints about dinner I'd make it more often.
My six year old loves broccoli. And parmesean cheese sandwiches. :rolleyes: That's about it.
I keep a big stock of frozen perogies, Betty Crocker mashed potatoes, and chicken breasts (deboned and skinned). And pasta. I LOVE looking at recipes, but I'm just not interested enough to get it together to actually MAKE something! :lol:

Me too, Ellis! I love to collect cookbooks and read them while sitting or lying comfortably, but I'll be darned if I'm going to get up and do anything about it...

My mom was just like this too. In my younger, more ambitious days I used to think why doesn't she cook more if she likes cookbooks so much? And now I understand.

I love the Food Network too - especially Good Eats & Iron Chef!

Cutting up three heads of lettuce on Sunday just about did me in on the cooking front. But I may make pancakes this evening for the girls. Minimum effort, freeze most of them, rave reviews.

Mind you I also get rave reviews for boxed mac & cheese - oh Mom, they say, how did you make it so GOOD? Took it out of the box, sweetheart, I say modestly (looking up from Julia Child), and threw it in the nearest pot!

:lol:

Lidian

Oh! What a good idea with the pancakes! Except I can't make them without burning them. I DO make a wicked crepe, though.
DH makes pancakes for the children every Sunday. Bribery before he takes them to church. :D

I have a wicked recipe for REAL mac and cheese, but the kids don't like it. Go figure. :rolleyes: Only the boxed will do.

So would I be correct to assume that Yorkshire pudding isn't anything like Jello pudding?

That's correct, Tami! It is sort of like a popover, goes with roast beef usually. The British use the term pudding more loosely than we do over in North America - steamed cakey things, popovery things, sweet gloopy things - them's puddings in the UK! And they call dessert in GENERAL that too as in "what's for pudding?" (DH asks this knowing it ain't gonna be a nice British sort of pudding. It might however be Jello pudding, I can do that!)

Lidian

:lol: Tamibeep.... NO!!! It's made with flour, eggs, salt and .... what else? I forget. They are wicked little things like popovers. Brown on the outside and a little gooey on the inside. You have them with roast beef. And gravy. And roast potatoes. Maybe turnips. Carrots. "Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding" is like one word. :D
They were invented way back when as a "filler". They are comfort food.

Ah ha!! Thank you ellis and Lidian! I am enlightened. They sound like dumplings... big ol' gooey lumps of deliciousness that you might as well just slap right on your thighs because you gain weight just batting an eyelash at them.

I don't like Yorkshire pudding. But then I don't like roast beef either. I want lamb with little roasted potatoes!!!!

I would like to skip dinner and go straight to the (sweet) puddings! (I used to skip the plum pudding and dive right into the hard sauce). And then I would like a big glass of madeira or port and some chocolate brandy beans, in front of a lovely fireplace with you all, making great conversation!

Lidian

Sounds cozy, Lidian. Beam us up. Don't be offended if I start reading and then fall asleep. After great conversation and a great belch. :D

Den, YOU DON'T LIKE YORKSHIRE PUDDING?! What the heck is wrong with you, girlie!! :lol:
The lamb sounds lovely though. How do you make your potatoes? Mom par-boils them, then puts them in a cast iron pan with some oil and coats the pototoes with the oil. The turn crispy brown on the outside. Oh man... they are to die for.

Gee, Tami... I don't think Yorkshire puddings are fattening at all! ;)

Before I too fall asleep at the fire, I may have some roast potatoes too (perhaps before the chocolate) - they sound fabulous, Ellis!

And if I eat lots of potatoes and sweets I AM going to need a nap (just like the uncles in Child's Christmas in Wales!)...

Lidian

Oh... that reminds me... I must reread Oscar Wilde's, The Selfish Giant... haven't read it in ages.
I'm reading an Evelyn Waugh right now. :D Cozy and amusing.

That's how my folks make them too Ellis! I DON't make 'em because if I got good at it I would be making them all the time!! Same reason I don't own a deep fryer. I'd be making french fries every night!!!

Okay, but when I come and visit you, can you make them for me, Den? Please? :D

Geepers... look at the time... what to make for dinner...
Hmmmm, I've got eggs. And a ham. If I had English muffins I could make those thingys...

I know what thingies you mean - those are good!

I made pancakes and reheated some soup for those who wanted it. I am freezing most of the pancakes for next week when we get back from our little trip to visit the family. I am planning on just lying down for several days with a wet dishrag on my head (or over my head) after we get back!

I love French fries too - the baked ones are OK but they just aren't AS good. Or Tater-Tots, I know they are really 1960s but I love them and I cannot have them around, I would eat the whole bag! We used to have them in TV dinners back then.

Has anyone ever made homemade potato chips? I haven't but I'll bet they're really good.

Lidian

Lidian- My Dad's ex-girlfriend worked at a potato chip factory and she took us on a tour, and we got to stand by the conveyor belt and eat the chips still warm. They were so good!

I am so pitiful, I have yet to start my Xmas shopping, gaah! (Can you tell I read Dilbert? LOL!) I will start on the 18th though, thats my last day of exams. :dance: :cb: :dancer:

HEY!! Any form of potato deep fried is okay by me! Actually, ANYTHING deep fried is okay by me!!!

Ellis-NO!! But I'll take you to my parents' house and we can make my Dad make his mixed roasted root veg. Potato, parsnip, carrot....all kinds of yummy stuff!!! (Of course HE'LL probably say "NO make it yourself." and then take 3 hours telling us the perfect way to do it!!!)

Den, do you like parsnips? Ick. I can't stand them. They RUIN the taste of my potatoes. I've only made roast potatoes once. Like you, I'd be making them all the time. Also, I hate peeling pototoes. If we can buy those bags of baby carrots peeled, why can't we buy potatoes peeled? :D

I think I'm going to plan dinner tonight. Ahead of time. Maybe. We'll see.
AHA! I've got a bag of frozen "light" something or other stir fry! DH and I can have that, and ummm, hot dogs for the kids? With carrots. I'm such a gourmet. :lol:

YES!! Love them!! And turnips and rutabagas too. Not too many vegetables I don't like, although once again I seem to prefer the starchy ones!!

Call me GRINCH...
 

Ok... FIRST... I do not have enough money to buy all of my Christmas presents this year. Try as a might to keep things simple, people are plotting against me to make this impossible (read dh's family). :bomb: In other words, his sisters and mother keep coming up with all of these ideas without asking us (like a family portrait and an ornament exchange blah blah blah blah). My inlaws drive me INSANE. So I think I may have maxed out my credit cards.

SECOND, tonight I went to buy all these other presents that have suddenly become necessary and silly me I wear platform boots to the mall so now my feet consist of giant foot shaped blisters.:cry:

THIRD, for some strange reason the mall had the heat jacked up to 85 degrees so I am a sweaty, icky mess. :hot:

FOURTH, at Target there is only one lane and this big line. When I finally get my way up to be next in line, some twelve year old wearing a Target uniform opens up the next register and everyone behind me rushes over. Of course at this point a problem arises in my line and every single person that was behind me in line now checks out and leaves before me. :tape:

FIFTH, supposedly for my benefit the mall is open until freakin' 11:00 pm so I don't get home until 11:30 and my dh is already in bed so I have to haul all the presents into the house, in the rain, with my sore blistered feet.... four trips. :stress:

:devil: CURSES!!!!! :devil:

You're not grinchy, Sojo. Just perfectly normal. Inlaws CAN be a real drag. You're usually treading on thin ice because you KNOW your DH has a strong tie with his family and you're "the outsider". Nasty. :mad: I know it well.
If I'm ever so unfortunate as to be a mother-in-law, I vow to be a good one.

Listen hon, you've got to start wearing Birks more often. :D I wore mine to the mall the other day with DH. With socks (faux pas) and jeans. There was snow on the ground, but my feet felt very good. And when I looked at other people's footwear, I noticed that they didn't look too damned comfortable. I think most of them were wearing your boots. (which look really good, by the way ;) )

Don't let your in-laws take advantage of you. Put your foot down next year and establish your OWN traditions. Tell them you think a family portrait is tacky. And catch your DH when he's in a good mood and tell him how you feel about the situation. Don't talk to him about it when you're angry. The whole "plan" will backfire on you.

You know what else? Inlaws can take even more advantage of you when you don't have kids. Just because you don't have children at the present time DOESN'T mean you're not a family. You and your DH have a special relationship, and you're entitled to "do your own thing". You ARE a family. And a very special one.

Hugs, hon. Hope today is better for you...
xoxo :grouphug:

Hey Sojo-I felt Grinchy last night too! I was in a store and the Christmas music was getting on my nerves-it was Celine Dion butchering "Feliz Navidad"- a song a normally like but her version was so bad that I was praying it would end! Other customers were giving me dirty looks beceause I was complaining to DH about the crappy Christmas music :lol: and I was irritable, hot, and everyone was in my way :mad:

I am done my gift shopping :) but I still have one more trip to make to the grocery store for fresh veggies, pumpernickel bread, pate, cheese and one or two small things (aggh! it will be so crowded on Saturday!)and a trip to the beer store (even more crowded) then I am done! :cb:

I still have to wrap the pressies though and finish cleaning the house:dizzy:

Sojo and Mauvais - I would like to add my grinchy groans too! I am always, always in that line where there is someone with a complex issue in front of me, who wants to pay for different items with different cards or cash; and someone who wants to chat to the cashier for an hour; and then the cashier runs out of receipt tape or nickels or goes on a break...And the terrible Christmas music blasting on! My personal grinch least-fave is The Little Drummer Boy. Apologies if you like it, but I am sticking my fingers in my ears!:lol:

Sojo, I agree with Ellis! Ellis, I agree with you!:) I wear running shoes even in the snow and I am very comfortable & grungy looking. Birks are great too. You need to be as comfortable as possible in those malls - cuz with the heat and crowds and long lines (and muzak!) they are not exactly thinking of YOUR comfort!

I could go for something deep fried today...maybe not parsnips! Velvet, those potato chips sound wonderful though!

Lidian

In Laws...
 

Trust me, I voice my opinion openly to dh. He agrees with me and will always take my side on stuff... but unfortunately his family is so very dysfunctional that as a coping mechanism he has become a peace maker and conflict avoider. So he is slowly learning to be more assertive with them as I point out their idiocy, manipulation, and guilt tactics. So this year we are getting this horrible, cheesy family portrait take... SIXTEEN people squashed into my sil's living room and some cheap photographer is going to come and take our picture. Of course then we have to help pay for the photographer and buy the freaking picture. GRRRR... And then the ornament exchange at the last minute... sil mentioned it to Rich who told her he wanted to talk to me first. But sil's went ahead and purchased all the ornaments so by the time I said no or one ornament only I am suddenly obligated to go out and buy six ornaments. Not to mention that his mother drives me INSANE.:headache: I literally have to meditate when I am around her as she talks at me for an hour straight. Plus she is lazy (never helps with any of the holiday meals), selfish, boring, and talks incessantly about nothing. Imagine this... within one family there is a Harley Davidson loving, leather wearing, factory working small town daughter and husband (with a ZZ Top beard)... and another sister who was in the Peace Corps along with her husband, live in San Francisco, with graduate degrees, have extensively traveled the world, who think they are very cultured and are very snobby... then another very average, conservative, small town stay at home mom sister with a very simple worldview... two parents who bicker and bark at each other... and then me and dh who are supposed to fit somewhere in all of this. Of course I'm considered the "weird one" of the family, although this is nothing new. No one has anything in common and few of us can relate on any level. Holidays are horrible.

Ok, enough of my rant... sorry for rambling on and on. But thanks for letting me get this off my chest. :D