By Charlotte Byus
This year our Christmas day was so different, different than any of our Christmas days ever. My Mom and Dad always had an open house for friends and family. The morning was always about opening presents with my Dad in his red flannel shirt and rolled cotton on his face. Most of you may not know what rolled cotton is, that is real cotton wrapped in blue paper in a long roll, almost like paper towels are today. Now, we still had to use the cotton after Dad took it off, as I remember it did not roll up nearly as well as it came out.

Then Mom, my sister and I would start working on the turkey, dressing and side dishes. Our turkey was cooked in a roaster, similar to an oblong crock pot of today. We (not so much me) made the dressing, stuffed the bird and the rest of the dressing was placed on the side of the bird. Lots of moist fat dressing and if I remember it was REALLY good. People would start coming over about noon and we would have eggnog and adult beverages and lots of dips and snacks then dinner about 5 or 6pm. My girls are used to having turkey and dressing for Thanksgiving and Christmas and not again until next year. We started having an earlier dinner when RR’s Mom started hosting Christmas dinner, she demanded no later than 1pm. If you were not there, dinner started without you.

Now for the new:
As you know, we had turkey and dressing for Thanksgiving at Dianne’s home and we were all invited to have Christmas at their home as well.

So many things were different this year, it was hard for us “old people” to digest. First, Rene’ and family had dinner with her husband’s family and we had Mexican food for dinner. Normally, we have had both of our girls and their families every Christmas since they left home and same goes for standard lunch. Of course, I should have shared many years ago, and I guess the girls should have done the same, but we didn’t. Both girls would visit their in-laws before or after the day of Christmas.

The dinner for this year was so good! We had avocado dip and really good salsa, chicken, pork and beef fajita, chicken and pork tamales, homemade chili, beans, and rice. WOW, why did we not do this years ago? Every bite was delicious and I, for one, did not have room for dessert. RR always uses the excuse for a nap because of the turkey. This year, he just ate too much like the rest of us and that was justification for a nap. Maybe next year we will try Chinese food, egg rolls and stuff. I guess change is a very good thing after all.

Hope your New Years Eve was safe and all your New Years resolutions last at least a week or two.

Be kind to one another.

[1-1-2018]