The Day After

Christmas this year was pretty good after all. After deciding to celebrate it, decorate, make candy & cookies, buy & wrap gifts, it became one of new traditions, with some few old traditions mingled in.

My day started pretty early. It meant getting up, making the stuffing, lamenting the fact that I never did get Joanne's stuffing recipe. But, I made my own and prepped the turkey and popped him in the oven (with Jimmy's help).

I conned James into getting up early because SANTA CAME! It's pretty fun dating someone who really enjoys Christmas as much as I do. I get into the Christmas spirit when I buy presents. And I really love buying presents for James. He's like a little kid opening gifts. And I'm not really sure who I like to buy presents more for. So we spent the next 4 hours waiting for the turkey by opening up our gifts. It was just the two of us, so we alternated present opening by picking out our presents we had purchased for the other and opening them one at a time. Pretty fun stuff. No chaotic mess and every present had a little story on how they were purchased.

Four hours later, the turkey was DONE! (see entry below for the beautiful roasted turkey) I must admit, since this was my first turkey, I was pretty scared about how it would turn out. But thank goodness for meat thermometers! Dinner for the two of us consisted of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cauliflower, green beans, rolls, and cranberry sauce. Pretty delicious. Which, put us into a food coma and naps followed shortly thereafter.

Afterwards, we went to visit George & Allison and visited with her mother Dee and husband Roy, and Merrill & Nils. I enjoyed getting to spend it with family. And found out that Dee and Allison had the DAVIS FAMILY STUFFING RECIPE. The very same one that Joanne used and I grew up with and therefore will not eat anyone else's. It floored me knowing this info. But I was quite glad to know that the recipe remains to this day and in use by other members of the Davis family. That stuffing recipe is a family legacy.

Onwards we went to Lori's older sister Jaime's house for dinner. And dinner was served at 9pm. (originally set for 6:30pm!) And after a minor mishap that Jaime forgot to remove the turkey neck from one of its cavities before it was roasted, the feast was spread out. More turkey, dressing, ham, candied yams, cheese grits, cranberry salad, and more food than I can remember was eaten by almost 20 people at Jaime's.

And another successful Christmas Day came and went. And what was most important to me was the company I spent it with. How wonderful it is to be surrounded by friends and family and the ones you love. It can only be a good sign for 2005. Like Merrill said, "May 2005 have many causes for celebrating."