I am the mother of four married sons and when it comes to holiday dinners, I never get first pick of date or time. That is, I never INSIST on my first choice; sometimes I get it accidentally. The role of the mother of married sons is to keep her mouth shut.
Okay, I haven't exactly done that either. I couldn't keep my mouth shut if my full and overblown lips were stapled with a nail gun.
What I'm trying to get to is Easter Dinner was held on Saturday night at my house. Because it was Saturday and not Sunday, something snapped in my head and said that we could do something more casual. So I made lasagna and a large murky looking salad. The center piece was three red geraniums in a basket and a platter of Mini's cupcakes, which looked very Easterish but tasted a little like antifreeze, especially the blue one. (This has not kept me from eating several of them over the last few days) I also made my own cupcakes with a chocolate buttercreme frosting that is literally to die for (three sticks of butter).
Tom did the shopping and came home with spiced sausage for the lasagne. Very spiced sausage. Blow-your- head-off-spiced-sausage. He is not supposed to make these decisions. He is supposed to buy what is on the list!
As cooking goes, I am inconsistent at best. I hated the spicy lasagne. And I made the salad too early and it grew gray over the afternoon. So did my mood. I have 10 place settings of sterling silver, but there were 12 seated at the table and so I thought to myself that we would only use forks. This was wrong-headed and looked stupid.
The family comes. They eat. We have fun, because they are all fun people, but--
On Sunday night, I'm on Facebook and I find Easter photos of my friend's Easter dinner and the table is respendent with flowers, silver and china. Her husband sits at the end of the table wearing a pink tie that matches the flower arrangement and she wears a pink jacket. The children are dressed like royalty. I feel like a complete failure. I know how to set a table and how to do a nice job. We should have had ham with raisin topping and hot cross buns and asparagus. We should have had an Easter Dinner. Don't try making me feel better, because I already do. I'm feeling just fine. There's always another Easter. Next year I'm leaving town.
12 comments:
And I bet when they cut into the ham it matched too.
(I got into your husbands class for spring and I'm a little bit stoked, thank you again for letting me know which one it was!)
Okay, your friend probably has those towels in her bathroom that people are afraid to actually USE because they're too fancy, right? Also soaps that look like seashells and so forth.
I would happily eat a good traditional Easter lasagne at your house any day.
I'm not saying this to make you feel better, I swear.
But you usually do such a beautiful job with holiday meals, so who cares if you chilled this year?
Besides we daughters in law come to see you anyway. The woman who raised such wonderful sons!
Oh, and where are you going next year?
Actually, I'd love to come to YOUR house.
Oh goody. That was what I was hoping you'd say!
You can always have Easter Dinner, or Christmas Dinner at say 2:00, or Christmas Eve, or Thanksgiving. All you have to do is call. We'll come running.
Louise, I don't know you personally, but I really like how you think! I love the idea of Easter lasagne! Who said it has to be ham (although we had ham).
If you need recipe ideas (I have a great one for lasagne), visit me here, I'd love you to stop by:
http://platesandpalates.blogspot.com
I think your family is lucky you even prepared a meal of any kind. Very thoughtful!!
I came from one of those matchy matchy crystal and china, ham with 12 side-dishes, and a huge pot of Easter Lilies families.
But this year, due to -oh so many things, Easter was simply a pork roast, store bought rolls, asparagus, and fruit salad (that also got soggy and brown). That was it. We drank Tang. And we used stoneware and plastic cups (tupperware style, not throw-aways).
My poor mom, I think she expected something nice, but I just wasn't up to it. The best thing I ate was the asparagus and the pork cracklins.
But it was still a good day. The best thing about Easter, was that it WAS Easter, and my oldest son was ordained a Priest. That was the feast for me!
It's nice to know not everyone did the huge formal affair. Thanks for sharing!
At least you had a centerpiece. We had ham, but no centerpiece. Mike even asked where the centerpiece was. I told him. Non-existent. I think Tom is the one who tells the centerpiece story in your home. Am I right?
At least you set the table! At Oma's we have a buffet and eat with our plates in our laps. I'm not complaining, it was good. I'm just sayin'...
Next time just do K.F.C. Their food doesn't require utensils, and they even offer an all-in-one meal. It doesn't get better.
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