Firstly, we interrupt our regularly-scheduled blogging activity to bring you the following news announcement: My wildly handsome (of course) and very talented Hubs finished up his 'big deal' training yesterday and cruised in near the top of the class. I'm so proud of him, especially because despite the fact that I know he is awesome at his job, he's been particularly stressed about doing his best over the last four weeks. His job is in the 'public service' sector and this kind of training is absolutely essential, so I'm so happy for him :) Congrats hon!
Of course, yesterday afternoon after his last evaluation session he and his workmates went out to celebrate and consumed their fair share of alcoholic beverages, meaning he had to get a lift home, leaving his car in the city overnight, and not in a parking garage either but on the side of a road near a tram station. We're both hoping it's still there today - he's just left to catch the bus back into the city to bring it home. But with last night's storm, the current status of the car is secondary - I'm just glad he got home safe.
As soon as he gets home (and he doesn't know this yet, LOL, but...) he's driving me into the shopping centre where I have at least a couple of hours of last minute shopping to do before we leave for the holidays tomorrow. I'm hoping by the time we get in there (at least 3pm at this rate) most of the insane people will have finished up and gone home. I've had a hard time this year enjoying one of my usual Christmas pasttimes, which is to wander the shopping centres and malls, listening to Christmas music (I must be old - I'm remembering and enjoying the same Nat King Cole songs my parents listened to 20 odd years ago - and they were 'old' then :P) and just soaking up the atmosphere. I think this has a lot to do with the fact we're still shopping in December, which is, obviously, one of the stupidest things one can do in December.
Oh, and I'm having all sorts of trouble finding these:
To understand why these are an essential part of our Christmas experience, you have to first travel with me back to the mid-eighties...
My mother had this amazing ability to turn three potatoes and a scrawny chicken into a lavish feast on Christmas Day. Oftentimes money was scarce but they somehow managed to pull together a holiday that sparkled. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
Dad was the biggest kid at Christmas. When I was younger I used to have him sit down with me on Christmas Eve while Carols by Candlelight played on the TV in the background and tell me all about the Christmases he spent as a young boy in the Fifties and early Sixties (or, you know, The Olden Days ;P). I asked him all about the presents he got (his favourite was a cowboy suit - a quintessential experience for small boys at the time I gather), the food they ate, the things they did, the people they visited with. I was totally fascinated.
With not much spare money about, my folks were the King and Queen of making a little seem like a whole lot. I distinctly remember one year getting a 'make your own' iceblock (popsicle) mould and being completely and utterly thrilled by that. And a diary with a real lock! The presents were small but thoughtful (and sometimes practical, like the year I received a desk fan and a laundry hamper!) It didn't matter, because what my siblings and I looked forward to the most was the meal.
And we did it BIG. Like SEVEN COURSES big.
It actually began well and truly before The Meal, with breakfast. No, actually to tell this story properly, I must begin at Christmas Eve.
A Christmas tradition here in Australia is the televised Carols by Candlelight concert held on Christmas Eve in Melbourne. The Carols have been a part of my celebrations from my very earliest Christmas memories. I couldn't imagine a single year without them, much to Hubs' dismay (he's not a big Carols fan, LOL). It's like (I guess) Thanksgiving without turkey. So we would have some sort of easy meal and kick back with dessert in front of the Carols, chatting as a family and absorbing the anticipation of the next day. At some point the kids would have a bath, get into their pyjamas, hang their stockings and say goodnight, but not before putting out oats and carrots for the reindeer. My next nearest (of 3 older) siblings is 7 years my senior, so realistically, by the time I was fully into Santa, they no longer believed, but they held up the pretense for my sake. Then we'd lay awake for the longest time until we finally fell comatose.
At some point in the pre-dawn hour, we'd wake. The rule in our house was, we could leave our bedrooms at any time after 5 but we were not to wake Mum and Dad until at least 6. While we were waiting, we could open our stockings and play with those things and watch the early morning Christmas cartoons.
At 6, we'd literally catapult ourselves into Mum & Dad's bed and walk over their backs until they got up. I'm so glad our kids don't do that! Then Mum would fix breakfast - bacon and eggs was an indulgence usually on reserved for special occasions, not so much because of the expense but also because it took much longer to feed everyone. But the rule was, breakfast first. Then when Mum and Dad had their second cups of coffee and the kids were set up with a cup of hot Milo, we'd potter into the loungeroom somewhere around 7 to open the presents.
This is where it got good :) Only Dad could touch the gifts, and he would read the names out one by one before handing them out. We could choose to open them immediately or stack them up :) Over the years, the job has naturally fallen to the man of the house - first Hubs and more recently (as we've spent the last three Christmases with the inlaws), my FIL. It's a very revered job, LOL, and mustn't be attempted by a woman - not because we couldn't do it, of course! But because the head of the household has always had that tradition and I love it that way. Each gift must be given proper reverence before moving on to the next. And if you dared to touch any of the under-the-tree gifts before Dad had handed them to you? Well we never did find out - we were too scared to try!
There was the obligatory few hours of gift-playing while Mum got the dinner going. Now, here's where the food comes in. To start with, we always had snack dishes out - always the same three flavours of crackers, the same three types of candy, and always, always pretzels. Then the first course, hors d'oeuvres (and yes, I had to dictionary.com that!) was served somewhere around mid-morning. I still clearly, clearly remember every ingredient we used. There had to be both red, green and white coctail onions sliced into tiny circles, kabana, cheese, couple of different dips, and Savoy crackers (sort of like Ritz) Oh, and smoked oysters or muscles. After this came the second course, the entree (starter). Over the years this changed from year to year but was initially prawn cocktail and eventually evolved into cocktail spring rolls.
Third course was soup. There was an interesting story about the soup (and the reason behind the introduction of asian food into our very-traditional-despite-it-usually-being-close-to-100ºF Christmas day meal). One year Mum was experimenting with a new Chinese cookbook she's received as a gift from someone and came up with a universally adored Chicken & Sweetcorn concoction which we all begged her to intigate as a Christmas tradition. And so she did. That was about 15 years ago while I still lived at home and ever since, wherever we've been, whether at home or at the inlaws, we've served this soup. It doesn't seem at all odd to us now but people often raise their eyebrows considering the next few courses. Yep, we're not done yet!
Fourth course was the main meal. I should point out that the whole shebang usually took the majority of the day, with 30-60 mins between each course to have it 'settle'. It was glorious, LOL. Anyway, while I was at home, it was always turkey and ham (some other traditional Xmas mains down here would be lamb, pork or seafood). Since then I've come to loathe the overinflated turkey prices at Christmas so we've stuck with chicken for basically the same taste at a third of the price. With no Turkey Day here in November, Christmas has the monopoly on turkey-eating and generally speaking, turkey isn't an 'everyday' type of meat the rest of the year (far outweighed by chicken). You can still get it, but it's not like what I hear about in the States - more like turkey mince and the occasional turkey drumstick in the chain supermarkets. Anyhoo, a large turkey can often cost $50-$60 (dependent on size of course) which is excessive if it's just a few people, even though the leftovers would be plentiful. For $20 we can roast two chickens and have plenty of money leftover for other treats. There's always chicken, ham, and sometimes pork and lamb at MIL's place each year, with all the trimmings - roast potatoes, cauliflower au gratin, pumpkin, and various other vegies. If we're at home, we might just do the chickens and buy some deli ham but we always, always have all those trimmings, LOL. Half the fun is making dinner (if by some miracle you're still hungry for it later in the day) or Boxing Day lunch the next day, from the leftovers :)
Fifth course was dessert. At home this meant traditional plum pudding with $1 and $2 gold coins stuffed inside, but we also had fruit salad and icecream. These days, my MIL has started her own tradition - this awesome dessert. Oh good Lord, it's good. So it makes it kind of lovely really - Mum's Chicken & Corn Soup and MIL's dessert.
Now, if we were at the inlaws' house, we'd have main and dessert and leave it at that. Amateurs, LOL.
Growing up, we were onto our sixth course - Cheese & Greens. I have no idea why this one came about or what made it all that different from the hors d'oeuvres, but I know it involved lots of different types of cheese and the green part was....well I can't remember exactly. In my own household years later, I never bothered with this. Even I recognised it as overkill!
And finally, seventh course and the reason for my sourcing the After Dinner Mints - Coffee & Mints. By this stage it was usually around 5 or 5:30 and we'd been eating since 10:30 or 11, usually with a nap sometime between dessert and Cheese & Greens. We'd always try a new flavour or brand of specialty coffee and the choice of mints was PARAMOUNT. No other mint would do. If you've ever tasted Red Tulip After Dinner Mints (and I have no idea if they're Aussie-only), you'll known them as thin, flat squares in little black envelopes. My husband has always ribbed me about my single-mindedness about the type of mint I have to have. It's one of the few 'as per original' traditions we've had since I was knee high to a grasshopper and I will literally travel across town to buy them. The smoothness on the tongue...ahhhhhhhh. I'm instantly six or seven years old, sitting on my Dad's lap showing him this toy or that toy from the morning, the faint smell of the cigar (ick, obviously, but strangely tied in with my Christmas memories) he only ever bought at Christmastime, and of the port he was drinking in the air. I can smell the pine needles from the tree that had to be real year after year despite the fact that the heat brutalized the poor thing and the merest touch or breeze would send needles flying and Mum grumbling and reaching for the broom. I think a little piece of my childhood died the year we finally got an artificial tree. And then later, when I had my own kids, it was just far more practical to have a tree that wasn't going to bury the child in needles as soon as he or she crawled too close, LOL.
So hon, if you're reading this, my bordering-on-OCD Christmas Mint Scavenger Hunt is just my way of clinging to the ghost of my Christmas past :) We may not do the whole seven courses anymore, we may serve different foods now, and I may be married to a man who is almost too practical for his own good sense (LOL), but there will always be a part of me who wishes for the Christmases of my youth. I find it interesting (and very telling) that I remember almost none of the specific gifts I got - even the bigger ones - but I remember the crazy, over-the-top traditions and the smells, sights and sounds (Bing Crosby anyone?) I would die a very happy woman if my own children tell stories such as this one when they're my age :) Well, you know, I hope I'm not dead at age 48, but you get the idea...
And to all my internet friends - may the best of the season be with you as you celebrate with family and friends and if anyone questions why you are still doing the same things you did twenty years ago, feel free to tell them about the crazy, nostalgic Australian lady who used to eat seven courses :P
And always serves the same After Dinner Mints.
No matter what.
(Merry Christmas Bloggityville! Stay safe, warm and hug your loved ones tight, and I'll be back to regale you with tales of our Christmas frivolity on the 27th or 28th :)
Cheers,
Lizzie
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