We had traditional ham for the first time because it happened to be extremely reasonable (cheap) at Foodland. WHAT a deal! I think it was 97 cents a pound for the shank and $1.17 a pound for the butt. We picked up the shank but a shopper stopped us and insisted we should get the butt because we'd get a lot more meat without contending with the bone. After that long conversation, we decided to go with the butt and put our shank back. Just then, the store staffer watching us said, "Did you know that the butt is better? ....." OK, OK!!! We bought the smallest butt which was still a huge 11.6 pounds. We looked on line for a pineapple glaze recipe. Then Art hacked that humongous hunk of butt in half to make cooking it faster, and stuck it covered in the turkey roaster. We added the glaze a half hour before it was done.
And you know.... it was great! Everybody loved it. Mom made kinpira gobo (teriyaki burdock) and macaroni salad. I added a somen noodle green salad. Dennis brought a green bean casserole. Everybody took home a TON of left overs. We had some tonight and it was just as yummy!
Miho and Barry brought two adorable and utterly delicious Christmas cakes.
Barry, Cody and their brother, Shawn who is performing in Waikiki and could not be with us are all very close. It does my heart good to see the three handsome brothers, so very different but so devoted to each other. Whenever they're together, they act like it could be their last time in each other's company. It's beautiful. My children, Tif and Jon have a very close relationship, too. Siblings are such a wonderful, glorious thing.
My dear friends, Dave and Diane brought over a fruit tart pie that was out of this world.
Dennis did the honors. Are you wondering why I'm only posting photos of the desserts? I don't know. That's when I remembered to take a photo, I guess. I totally forgot to take a photo of the butt of ham.
This morning something occurred to me. I asked mom if she always made us put away the tree each year right after Christmas. In Illinois, I always insisted the tree be taken down right after the holiday. I don't know why. There was just this compelling force that made me insist on it. The kids wanted to keep it up longer but I felt it had to be put away.
"Of course," she said. "It's important to put things away and clean up everything before the New Year. You don't want to take old debts, celebration things, grudges, (dirt?) into the New Year. You must go into the New Year clean."
Now that I'm living with my mom, I'm finding an explanation for a lot of the things I do. All those quirks I have... it's Mom's fault.
So there you have it, we took down the tree and put it away in the closet. It was amazingly quick.
Everything was put away so we went to the After Christmas sales today and got some fabulous deals! I bought a NEW $79.99 12-quart stock pot at Macy's for $34.99. Woo hoo! I also bought a NEW $16.00 calendar at Borders for $7.00 and NEW holiday wrapping tissue for the NEW coming year.
OK... that's that.
Sigh... now comes the old cleaning.
We always take down our tree on New Year's Day if we don't have a party, or the day after if we do. This year, we are not having a party.
ReplyDeleteThat fruit tart looks so beautiful. Yummy! But too beautiful to eat, really!
Sounds as though you had such a wonderful Christmas! And I'm so glad! And, yes, the fruit tart does look wonderful and I'm glad you dived in and ate it! So glad you had such a wonderful Christmas! Wishing you and Art and your family a beautiful New Year! With much love!
ReplyDeleteSylvia
That's OK, I would rather see cake pictures than ham butt. :)
ReplyDeleteBut what about the twelve days of Christmas? Today is only the 3rd day.
Your mom and Mrs.H's mother seem to have been big on rules of order as you and L. were growing up.
Glad you have so many family gatherings now, back home in Hawaii.
Your get-together's with family and friends always look so festive. And those desserts were incredibly delicious looking. Loved how the cakes had been decorated to look like Santa's. We will be putting our decorations down in another couple of days or so. When I was growing up it was always tradition to put them away on 12th night.
ReplyDeleteWhat great looking desserts. We stuck to the traditional Christmas pudding and mince pies. We always keep our decorations up until Twelfth Night, as it's supposed to be unlucky to take them down before. I'm always delighted to 'reclaim' my house after that though, and get back to normal. I don't know if our tree will last that long this year though, it's shedding so many needles it will be bald by then!
ReplyDeleteYour holiday sounded lovely. Those cakes are adorable. How did they taste?
ReplyDeleteI did not visit the after Christmas sales. I cleaned the kitchen cupboards and then I went to the beach.
wonderful xmas party! lovely cakes!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your wonderful Christmas with all of us. You have a great family! This year I hadn't put up my (artificial) Christmas tree and no other Christmas decorations either apart from candles and other lights, because I was ill. We always took the X-mas tree down after New Year's Eve before the 6th January, which is Epiphany, even though we don't celebrate Epiphany. We always thought it nice to have the Christmas tree lights on at New year's Day.
ReplyDeleteMy mother always insisted all Christmas decorations go by the new year too. I'm a little slower to do it. 12th Night is fine.
ReplyDeleteYour Santa cakes are so cute. Glad you had such great fun with the family.
Happy New Year!
Yep, it sounds like you truly had a nice time. So much food! YUMMMM! That fruit tart looks absolutely scrumptious.
ReplyDeleteI would love to take the tree down with the new puppy but hubby likes it up until the New years day!
Hugs♥
well artificial trees don't shed needles so they can go up earlier and stay longer and clean up quicker. We always had a live/cut tree but now I just go to my sons for christmas then I don't have to decorate and undecorate. On to the new year...
ReplyDeleteWe still have the tree up but most of the other decorations are put away. The cats are still enjoying lying under the tree... but it will be down by this weekend for sure!
ReplyDeleteI also bought the Susan Boyle CD...I love it! Have not listened to it as many times as your mother has, but am going to put it on my ipod!
Meryy Christmas Kay, Art and Mom!
what a lovely Christmas celebration you had. I had to look up what burdock was and learned something. I usually take my tree down just after New Year's Day.
ReplyDeleteWe usually take the tree down on Epiphany, but I like your mother's way of thinking. After Christmas the tree just starts to look sadder and sadder. Maybe we'll start a new tradition for New Year's Eve.
ReplyDeleteThe food looks wonderful! We have a ham in the refrigerator for when our friends come over later this week; I hope they didn't have the same for Christmas... !! LOL
When I was a child the tree stayed up til after the New Year. Me, I like it taken apart (!) and put away a few days after the big day, since no one ever seems to be around to help un-decorate the tree! I do like your mother's thoughts on starting the New Year with a clean slate. So I best get cleaning! Looks like a wonderful family gathering and the Christmas cakes looked so yummy! Happy New Year to you.
ReplyDeleteLovely celebration! You are blessed!
ReplyDeleteKay, I love those Santa Cakes, they looked fabulous!! I take my Christmas tree down on New Year's Day. I'm home from work and it just seems like the thing to do! We had ham this year from Honeybaked Ham and it was wonderful! It was given to me by a subcontractor at work, which was even better FREE!!
ReplyDeleteI always want to put up the tree long before Ken wants to, and he always wants to take it down long after I want to! We go through this struggle each Christmas. Once it's down and packed away, I feel a sense of relief and renewal.
ReplyDeleteThose Christmas desserts are absolutely beautiful. Almost too pretty to eat, huh?
What a wonderful post about your fun time, I always enjoy hearing about what my friends are up to. I also enjoyed the pictures, especially those yummy looking cakes. Hope you all have a Happy New Year, take care.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like it was yummy Kay..I too liked to take down the tree right away..not sure why...
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