25 Write about a feast – a family gathering, a company banquet, or maybe you treated yourself after fasting. Now here is a prompt for me! I will give this one a true stop watch and write for no more than 10 minutes and see where I end up.
Christmas dinner in my extended family moved from the big sit down turkey dinner on Christmas Eve to a buffet of organized potluck. We had sort of sketched out menu- a few meats, some sides, appetizers, but nothing was written in stone, and we switched up year to year. This was started about twenty five years ago, when the last of my parents children, my younger sister, got married and moved out of the house. It was just so much easier on my mother, since she lost her last set of extra hands to help. There was never a shortage of food before, but this newer buffet way of serving was gluttony at its finest. Not only did each extended family household bring the equivalent amount to feed their whole family, usually the amount was doubled. We typically had twice as much food as people to eat. No worries, Christmas buffet makes for great leftovers and "pickings" when you have kids from school the rest of the break.
A few new family favorites have emerged and are part of the tradition, as the buffet has now become. My sister makes an incredible beer cheese soup, complete with popcorn to crunch on top. My brother in law is the chicken wing king and usually has several varieties. I am the maker of "puffy things" little popovers made with crescent dough and filled with cheese and herbs. These were my dad's favorite appetizer and no matter how many I make this is the appetizer that gets downed in full. As we have moved away from presents as each of us has our own exchanges in our immediate families, the lingering over the buffet, the chatting, the communal coming together, is he heart of our Christmas now. It is special in terms of using nice dishes, ad crystal serving pieces, but casual enough that extra guests blend into the fold easily. My sister hosts now and she ever gets a true head count. If we need more dishes, a couple of us just quickly hand wash, as it takes a while for fifty plus people to go through so that first groups through the buffet are usually done eating before the last have come. Besides, we will all graze and nibble throughout th evening. The Christmas Eve buffets are truly a feast.
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Buffet style dining never caught on in my family, but my best friend's mom felt it was the best way to deal with guests pretty much year round, and I can't argue that it was always good food, plenty of it and easier for everyone to manage. Here's to the buffet, long may it ... buffet? :)
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy sit down but in sheer numbers-remember I said 50+, sit down passing of platters and bowls just was not realistic anymore. It is great fun, and the fact that there is always room for one more, is to me what makes a holiday special.
DeleteIt does remind me of many family gatherings back in Russia - mama's 7 siblings, their spouses and children, spmetimes papa's relatives (they lived much further and visited not as often) with occasional friends and neighbors... the quantity was rather overwhelming for a small 2 bedroom apartment, but there was always plenty of good food and laughter. I always remember those times with tenderness in my heart. Something that I tried to recreate here (a community)... A buffet is a very American thing to me. We would always have old fashioned sit down dinners in my home country. Many hours of feasts... I sure don't have a stamina for them any more! :)
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