For as long as I can remember, my husband, our two kids and I have gathered around our dining room table for a traditional dinner on Christmas Eve. First, we attend church, then come home and I put a ham in the oven.
The only problem with this arrangement, is that the children’s Mass, in which my kids often participate, is at 6:00 PM…which means we don’t get home until after 7:00. I don’t like to leave the oven on when we’re not home, so Christmas Eve dinner is always a very late one.
This year I tried something new. I pulled out my gigantic, electric roaster and threw the ham inside before we left for church. That way we came home to a fully cooked ham.
Actually, it was a little too fully cooked.
And as we sat around the table aglow with candlelight and set with my mother’s Christmas china, my daughter didn’t let it go unnoticed when she said, “You know, I like dry meat. It’s easier to cut.”
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Your daughter is right! And I'm so glad you have your mother's china! I'm sure most of my 12 sets of dishes will make a great garage sale after I'm gone!
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Xbox4NappyRash
🙂
Hope you had a nice one.
Rhea
At least it wasn't burnt ham.
Sounds like a nice holiday tradition though!!
Jason @ The Devoted Dad
Just tell her that she will need to find another way to get her fluids! A little jam on it next time and the flavor will be so good they won't notice how dry it is. Personally I love using my roaster for the same reason. Great tradition as well! Merry Christmas!
James (SeattleDad)
Hey she said she liked it right?
Hope you had a very Merry Christmas.
WeaselMomma
I like that your daughter could find that silver lining.
Tara R.
Always looking on the bright side. Good girl!
Heather
That's a good kid right there– Great attention to detail 😉 ha ha ha. Hope you had a very Merry Christmas!
Aunt Juicebox
lol Maybe the crock pot next time? I love ham, dry or not.
jojo
I over baked a smoked tenderloin, so yeah girl, way to go! lol!
AlisonH
Picture our Christmas table this year: everybody home, the kids are all proudly grown-ups now, all in their 20's. The Yorkshire pudding–that would be "dogskins" in Hydespeak, a tradition dating back to Grandpa hoping he'd get to eat it all if he called it that–gets overdone. Oldest daughter, vegetarian, but proud of having created the perfect, thin, crunchy crispy dogskins, just so.
And child #2, new wife at his side, is engaged in conversation and not paying attention to the, um, cracker-like object he just put strawberry jam on.
Oldest said nothing. Just silently cracked up and waited for the surprised face to happen.
I SO can't put this on my own blog! (Yet, anyway. Gimme a few years.)
DysFUNctional Mom
I like that girl, she focuses on the positive!
Otter Thomas
It was a positive way to talk about the ham. Nicely done by your daughter. Hope you had a Merry Christmas.
meleah rebeccah
You daughter is right!
Mrs4444
So sorry, but that made me laugh out loud.
We do the same thing, minus the ham, and our children's mass is at 4:00pm. This year, though, we all agreed that we're kind of done with the mass with all the bawling babies. The trouble is, we like to eat Christmas Eve dinner in our pajamas. I'm pretty sure pj's would be frowned upon at midnight mass. Or would it?
Oscar
Thats hysterical!
I use my electric roaster a lot. I do turkey in it. Good call, next time a lower temp!
Unless you like the easy cut meat!
🙂
Rachel
Ha Ha HA HA HA HAHAHA 🙂
I love your kids 🙂
Rayne of Terror
I used my roaster twice over Christmas. The first time for a beef roast and SOMEONE pulled the plug out of the wall. So as we reached the end of my carefully timed feast the roast was not even close to done. Agle Blargle Fraggle.
Jaina
Oh dear. My aunt got a honey baked ham and they told us not to put it in the oven, to just bring it out on the counter an hour or two before we wanted to eat it and let it come to room temp. Keeps it from drying out or something I guess.