04 November 2007

Fun Monday 11.06.07

It has been awhile since I participated in a Fun Monday, so I decided to go with this one, which is being hosted by Deborah who is not to be confused with Debs.

I want to hear about or see a holiday tradition, recipe or event. It can be any holiday you like or that is special to your family. With Thanksgiving and the Winter holidays coming up, those would be especially apt, but anything that is special for your family is fine. If you have pictures - it's a bonus! Whether it's your Mom's famous stuffing recipe, going caroling on Christmas Eve, Diwali dances, or even the inevitability of Great Aunt Polly having one too many brandies and knocking over the Christmas tree - I want to hear about it!!!

Since the blog world is so global this might be a learning experience too - exposing us to other cultures and traditions - something I always welcome!


Since Debs is posting basically how we spend our holiday, I am going to post about how I spent the holidays with my parents.

First the Menu. It is my father, not my mother, who is the cook of the house. Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner were the same mix of both traditional American, and some Asian elements.

>Roast Turkey with stuffing AND, not or;

>Glazed Ham with pineapple;

>yams;

>cranberry sauce;

>home made egg rolls. I know they are home made because as a child, I had to help roll them up. Usually a mixture of ground beef, and peas;

>Pancit Canton. This was basically a noodle dish with pork, shrimp, and chicken;

>Singapore Mai Fun, which is a spicy Rice Stick dish;

>Jumbo Shrimp Tempura, or Fried Battered Shrimp;

>Fried Rice with egg, pork, shrimp, bean sprouts, you name it.

Needless to say, we got full, and leftovers were plentiful. Grace was said at both meals. Even the pets got their fill. Wine was the drink of choice, any wine.

On Thanksgiving, the only other activity consisted of watching (or in my high school days, playing) football.

On Christmas, the day started out with Midnight Mass, some sleep, and the gift phase, followed by a big breakfast, and then the feast described above.

Special note on the gift phase:

My birthday is VERY close to Christmas. With this fact in mind, a family holiday tradition was called "Let's Screw Over Robocop and combine gifts and cards." This was not really the intention, but it was funny to call it that. Either Christmas, or Birthday Cards were modified neatly to include the other event. Birthday and Christmas gift wrap was interchanged. Not a problem now, but as a child, it was alittle frustrating**LOL**

Well, that's it. I hope someday to travel back home, and do this again with my parent, if I could only get those holidays off. I am not one of the Warden's pets, so I cannot see this happening in the near future.

Enjoy!

12 comments:

Dea said...

Thanks for sharing Robocop! Your menu sounds incredible - love all the Asian influence.

My brothers birthday is also close to Christmas and he says he's been jipped from day one! Oops! ;-)

Sandy said...

If you cannot get off work, please let my husband know. He loves pancit and I cannot find the recipe he remembers. I will just send him to your mom!

Unknown said...

Sounds like a good hodge podge of food. You make me hungry.

As for birthdays and Christmas, my son's is the 16th and I have tried to keep them seperate but a couple of times I have asked him do you want two things or one big one, ie two years ago we got him a laptop, wouldn't have done that if we had to seperate his gifts.

ChrisB said...

I love the sound of that menu. I always felt sorry for anyone who had a birthday close to Christmas. The temptation to combine is just too great. Not what kids want!!

Unknown said...

You & D both have Dec b-days? That's torture...but ask her my REAL name, and you'll get home much it sucks to have your birthday six days before Christmas with a cheesy Christmas name. Very bitter. I totally get the dual gift problem. Or, the b-day present wrapped in Christmas paper, which is also a no no with me!

I can only remember midnight mass once. It was LONG and I fell asleep.

Tiggerlane said...

I remember attending a Christmas Eve Mass at a Catholic Church while in college - it really moved me to tears.

And my kid? Her birthday is the DAY AFTER Christmas...and she doesn't get slighted ONE BIT. I make sure of it. The piles of presents are in different spots - all the birthday gifts are in birthday paper, and NO ONE is allowed to combine her gifts! I'm a Nazi-mom that way!

Anonymous said...

I hear you - my birthday is 1 week before Christmas. I always got the gift that served as both Birthday and Christmas present. (okay - it was usually something very nice - but a little disappointing).

My husband is worse - he is a Christmas Eve baby. When he was little, he thought the lights and decorations were for him.

Beckie said...

Sounds like good food to me!

I also got "screwed" at Christmas with the combining of the birthday/Christmas stuff. It is frustrating for a kid. I always wanted a summer birthday!

theotherbear said...

My favourite part of Christmas is the food :)

Anonymous said...

Hey, it's never too late to celebrate your "half" birthday! Nothin' much going on in June :).

What a nice turn on traditional holiday food; you have the best of two worlds!

I'm trying to imagine MY dad cookin' the holiday meals and it would've been one of three things, none of which I enjoy now over the holidays, lol.

Anonymous said...

Wow, that sounds like a great meal. Me being a foody, I honed in on the food. I have heard of other families where the person feels a bit ripped off by having a birthday so close to Christmas. I am guessing you are a cook in your house as well. Our son will have the basics in cooking meals, as he has his designated cooking night, but I am not sure if he will ever really enjoy it.

Jo Beaufoix said...

Sounds like a gorgeous spread. :D