what's your Xmas look like?

[Tonks]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, Sharon Hayes <s.hayes at ...> 
wrote:
>
> Hi all, I am wondering what other people's Xmas is looking like.  
Living in Australia, we are in the middle of summer and so it's hot, 
rainy, and humid.  For Xmas dinner we are having BBQ'd salmon 
fillets, sliced turkey breast, salad and champagne.  We'll lounge on 
the deck and after lunch take a walk along the beach nearby.
> 
> I am SOOOOOO wanting a white Xmas right now!!! I've never had one, 
and since a lot of you lovely people live in the northern 
hemisphere, I would really love it if you could post what you're 
doing and what it will be like. What is the weather like and what 
will you be eating and doing next Tuesday?

Tonks:

I don't think I would like Christmas in a warm place. Just wouldn't 
seem 'right'. I went to a conference once in Arizona in December and 
it was so strange to me. There were Palm trees with Christmas lights 
and poinsettias right next to petunias in the outdoor gardens. Just 
seemed so weird to see that!!

My situation is about as far from Steve’s as anything can be. I envy 
his family. I am an only child of older parents and now have no 
living relatives. I have no children. I must throw myself on 
the “kindness of strangers”, so to speak.  Actually I have a good 
friend who for the past 15 years has taken me to her relatives for 
Christmas. First we went to her Aunt’s till she died about 10 years 
ago. Now I get invited with my friend to be with her sister and 
niece at the niece’s house. The 4 of us usually do all of the 
Holidays together. Except for that one year when they all got 
invited to another relative’s and I ended up with no where to go on 
Thanksgiving. ;-(  Thank God it wasn’t Christmas!!

Last year the sister and niece went to Australia for a trip in mid-
December, but came back in time for Christmas. Again, Thank God!!  I 
can’t cook. I don’t have a tree because it is too hard for me to put 
one up anymore, but I love them. And the niece always has a real 
tree. 

We will go to her house in the early afternoon for dinner of Roast 
Chicken, mashed potatoes, dressing, squash, fancy coffee and cherry 
pie with ice cream for desert. Sometimes she has a good fruitcake 
too. I can’t drink, but she also serves wine. I use to bring the 
green bean casserole, but she wants to do all the cooking now. (Come 
on, don’t laugh, my cooking isn’t THAT bad, there are other reasons 
why we are asked not to bring anything. ;-)

After dinner, but before desert, we gather around the Christmas tree 
and open our presents. There are always LOTS of presents for all of 
us and it takes a long time. We listen to Christmas music and open 
our stocking last after desert. It is a very nice day, and I am 
always so grateful to have someone to spend it with.

On Christmas Eve, I go to church and after church I drive around 
listening to Christmas music and looking at all the Christmas lights 
on the houses for about an hour, then go home and sleep late on 
Christmas morning. 

It snowed here about 6 inches last week, but is melting now. That is 
OK. A little snow for a white Christmas is nice, but too hard for me 
to walk in. I use to love the snow, but I can’t walk that well 
anymore so now I like it cold and dry. But I still do like an old 
fashion blizzard now and then, as long as it melts fast and I am not 
stuck out in it.

And A Very Merry Christmas to you all!

Tonks_op
PS. Lee - you should use fresh been for the casserole, the frozen 
are not that good. And do the directions exactly as on the 
Campbell’s can. IMO. Ah... and COOK the bean before you put them in 
the oven.. I made that mistake one year with the frozen ones. (OK 
guys stop laughing... that is NOT the reason we don't bring anything 
to dinner anymore! ;-)