A Merry Din

I love Christmas. I'm not much of shopper and I'm wary of over consumption, but I love the day and the night before too. Hosting my family for the event for the first time was awesome. I love the ebb and flow of the day.

I love waking up to find cousins splattered throughout the house. Shani slept on the hard wooden floor in the living room, one hand resting on his open laptop and Kayla actually slept in the living room chair. Two sleeping mats leaned up against the wall. Five people slept in the addition alone, which is not a very big space, but everyone said they were comfortable. Manny got up at about 4:00am, snuck most of his presents from under the tree and opened them in his room. He tried to tell us that Santa had left these toys by or under his bed. But we know this is a lie. He spent much of the day in his room with his new legos.

Then there's rising morning excitement and consumption of many pots of coffee and egg treats. Last year someone (Henekis?) started calling everything a treat, so our breakfast strata is now "egg treats" and the spiced nuts my mom makes are "nut treats". Clam dip is "clam treats", etc.

One of my favorite parts of the day was the Gram Jam game. Grammie Robin makes the world's best jam and gives it to us all at Christmas (though she sneaks Neil some at other times throughout the year because he loves it so much). This year she made a game out of everyone choosing their jam. I think she just liked the opportunity to boss us all around. And I liked her bossing us. This video clip is a nice example of the chaos, silliness and fun of my family on Christmas Day:


Then there is the late afternoon. Presents have been opened, turkey dinner consumed and people start to spread out around the house. Jordyn's lying on the floor on her belly, texting and Joe and Terry are playing a guessing game with pictures. Kali is in the easy chair where Kay slept the night before reading Patrick's library book (Encyclopedia Horrifica) and Alan is studying 35 ways to play poker. In the other room, Neil does the dishes and shouts to someone "gum breath" while someone else is singing. Henekis is laughing and Dahe is heartily and happily cursing. The light is getting low and I am reveling in this din; the hum of love.

Later on there is more coffee and out comes the cake! I am very proud of this cake:

In the early evening we again gather round and Henekis reads to us from Jack Handy's Deep Thoughts. This one is our favorite and made Kali laugh so hard he cried:
I remember that one fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew what was coming. 'You don't have to tell me,' I said. 'I'm off the team, aren't I?' 'Well,' said Coach 'you never were really ON the team. You made that uniform you're wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at inappropriate times.' It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought something is brewing inside the head of this Coach. He sees something in me, some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that's when I felt the handcuffs go on.
Anyway, for me it was definitely one of the best Christmases ever. Kali was supposed to ruin it and I was a little disappointed that didn't happen. But my mom's cooking made my life pretty easy (it's so fun cooking in my kitchen with my mom!) and I think everyone had a wonderful time. Maybe they'll let me host again next year. I love you all so much!
Netdahe as Santa
Momma and me
Jen, Brook and Alan

Quelle Bonne Chance, N'est-ce Pas?

Thanks to Dad and the Fays for hosting the kids so we could have a weekend away to celebrate our 14th anniversary.  We left Montreal before 7:00AM (it was still dark as night!) to get home before this snow.  Good thing, too.  We made it just in time.

We stuffed ourselves with couscous, lamb, chicken and merquez at Au Tarot (and oh, the mint tea at the end is so perfect!) and rich, deeply flavored French at our very favorite bistro, Le P'tit Plateau.   We went to a special exhibit at the Contemporary Art Museum and shopped for cheese at La Vieille Europe, but because it was so cold out, we mostly just curled up by the fire.  And that was nicer than anything else I could imagine.  



P.S. While I was looking to see if P'tit Plateau had a website, I found this cool blog.  

Too Much is Always Enough, or; Food is Love

The Stoddards are really pretty over-the-top in a lot of ways. We're all just a little too loud and obnoxious and some of us can be awfully self-righteous. We're passionate about our politics, beliefs and ideals. We're verbose. And there is no doubt that we are all prone to excess, particularly when it comes to food. Food is love, right? And we love big. So we eat a lot.
Weeks prior to any major family gathering, we start communicating about food. Since the advent of e-mail, we do this with a million reply-alls and much tangential discussion, such as whether or not anyone ever /actually/ drove themselves crazy with excessive verb usage (or with extensive or excessive usage of verbs). And we often end up with way too much food. Except for that one old home weekend about 20 years ago when Wayne missed dinner and there was no food left. Remember that travesty? Wayne does.

This year, I am hosting Christmas at my house for the very first time. We generally alternate Christmas between Vermont (Auntie Sally's house) and Maine/New Hampshire (Auntie Rae's house). This year Sally didn't feel her house would be comfortable for everyone, what with all the fish tanks, so I jumped at the opportunity to officially become a grown-up and have Christmas at my house. This way I don't have to travel. We're really excited about moving furniture around to accommodate lots of people around the tree and I'm looking forward to a sleep-over with many of my cousins and aunties (Sally, you should sleep over, too, even if your own home is 5 miles away).

So back to the food. This holiday's food planning started like this (I started it):

Christmas Eve:

Lentil soup (my dad)

Corn Chowder--vegetarian (Henekis)

Galupshugas (Gram)

Homemade Bread (Zoe)

Green salad (Zoe)

Christmas Morning:

Strata (Cindy Mom and Zoe

Various fruits (Zoe)

Christmas Dinner:

20 lb organic turkey from Penny!!!(Zoe)

Ham or pork roast from the pig my dad bought(Zoe)

Stuffing and Gravy (Cindy Mom)

Potatoes (Zoe)

Squash (David Dad)

Brussel Sprouts (Zoe)

Amazing Party Cake (not from the auction) (Zoe)

Other hopes and dreams:

(Cindy Mom):Crabcakes, Chinese dumplings (I have loads of ground pork for these and will help make them ahead)

So my mom agreed to the crabcakes and dumplings and added her homemade danish. Then Henekis requested clam dip. Then Raetha offered roots veggie stew and more fruit and offered to plan a hike, which obviously we'll all be way too full to participate in. So when you consider the above list, we're probably all set for 24-hours and 15-20 people, right? But then yesterday Sally weighs in with the following:

I'm bringing Thai -- shrimp, cauliflower, lo mien noodles and carrots in a peanut sauce (Shani I'll leave out the shrimp in some). Also, I am bringing at least 4, but probably 6 quiche, all vegetarian. Jen, Kali and I are bringing 2 lime key pies that are pretty basic but we like them (Jen smiled when she ate some and I love her smile; they do have some Cool Whip I am a bit ashamed to write...). One chocolate éclair pie (these are all graham crust size not Zoë's and Rae's usual big pie shells). A crock pot of my Ntozake Shange rice/broccoli/cayenne peeper/nutmeg etc dish. I'll add some of the wedding type mandarins to the fruit. And, something else I don't know about yet. I have 6 cans of crabmeat and -- on my wish list, I am asking for Zoe to make me the ugliest possible cake. You can even make it poorly right now and freeze it, maybe that will make it a little soggy when thawed. Love, love, love etc.

I particularly love "And, something else I don't know about yet." Because clearly we will need something else. There might not be enough. She's too cute!

Lest you think I have had any direct influence on this crazy family food fetish (as opposed to just being a product of same) here's my dad at the end of Christmas Day in 1982 (I was only 11) reading a list of food and drink he (and others) had consumed that day. It's a pretty great, classic clip. And I particularly love the supportive cheering at the end.:

This year, I've had some moments of worry that there really will be too much food and that will mean waste; a deadly sin, especially for us frugal New Englanders. But since I have freezer space and anticipate about 15 house guests for New Year's Eve, I'm breathing through my panic that we will literally be overun by our amazing culinary creations and looking forward to embracing the joy that is feeding the people you love. Anyway, I could no more ask any of the cooks in my family to NOT bring food than I could ask them to stop loving each other, or me. I imagine stomping my foot and the ridiculous futility of either scenario: "Stop it! Just stop it! Stop it right now!" And why would I want to convince anyone of such silliness?

Love Song

Raetha made me a cd last weekend which included this song by Sonya K.  It's just a perfect love song from Harper to Patrick.  Or Henekis to Kali and Shani.  

Just Because

 Netdahe and me at Camp in the fall...probably around 1980.  I love us.

And Now They're 20 and Singing at Their College...

Jordan and Kayla are a couple of the youngest descendants of Champ in my generation. Our mothers are sisters. They are beautiful and sweet and creative and talented, each in their unique ways. I love them. Here they are as babies...

This is Jordan:

This is Kayla:
Or at least that's the family consensus on which twin is which. They looked a lot alike back then.

Kayla and Jordan have been singing this song and making us cry since they were 7 years old. Last night they sang it at the college talent show and won 2nd place! I think they should have won first place.

Achieving Perfection

On a sunny morning (or a cloudy, rainy or snowy morning) pop Astral Weeks into your car cd player (or ipod, or hifi stereo system or tape deck) on your way to work (or school, or a friend's house or on a walk or sitting in your living room).

Because it's so good.

Van Morrison achieved perfection with this album. With the poetry, the strings, the reminder that being a stranger in this world is pure and true and redemptive. The celebration of everything that can't be named or held on to and which is the essence and adventure of being alive. It's all there and it's as hot as it was 40 years ago.