We have an old fashion Christmas. Mass at midnight. A real Christmas tree anywhere we are. On Christmas Day: Friends for dinner who wouldn’t otherwise have a Christmas. Plum pudding with holly on top, flambéd and treasures like old coins, etc baked in. Have to be careful, one Christmas aunt Etta swallowed her small treasure and we all watched anxiously but she didn’t seem to notice. No lasting effects, now I add edible treasures.

Fresh turkey with home made stuffing, roasted garlic buttermilk mash, orange cranberry sauce, pan made gravy, bread pudding from day old bread, honey glazed squash.

After dinner family game: Name a possibility and an impossibility, each person gets a turn. We all discuss their contribution. The game can get lively. One year we were in the living room when the candles on the dinning table caught fire. It took a bit to notice the smoke and we had to throw the table cloth with the candles in the snow.

This year we start a new tradition of “regular chili” and “vegetarian chili” on Christmas Day and shortly after Christmas we head south to The Villages. It will be interesting to see who shows up as more and more of our family are scattered across the country. It was different when we all lived in the same small Illinois community years ago.