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I spy with my jelly bean eye
As I write this it’s been one week since “Chocolate Sunday”. Now, before you get all Easter-y on me, my granddaughter gave Easter that name many years ago. It made sense to her and, besides, I like it—Chocolate Sunday. It’s more or less what the day is, ultimately, about. Today, seven days later, I’m not sure if hosting a big family meal is something I want to continue to do. Don’t get me wrong, cooking for ten (or more, in some instances) isn’t the issue. I find cooking a big holiday meal pretty straightforward. And I’ve been hosting holiday meals for well over four decades. I think I’ve got it all figured out and fine-tuned. It’s not the cooking, or even the clean-up before and afterwards. The thing is, I do miss spending quality time with the family and friends who come over to celebrate. The selfish moi wants to sit down and chit-chat with the adult kiddos. And, I want to play Legos and explore the neighbourhood with the little fella. I also want to find out what makes the teenage grandkids excited. I don’t always have the pleasure when a huge meal needs to hit the table at a reasonable time. Our kitchen isn’t big enough for more than one, sometimes two people, prepping a meal. So it isn’t a matter of asking for help—it’s more or less about the space.
So, I’ve been mulling over some ideas to make the next get-together memorable and delicious but not so kitchencentric. Does that sound reasonable? Maybe it’s time to revamp the whole holiday/ holy day thing-ma-jig as it relates to our family and friends. I’m wondering if I should ease the family into another mindset when it comes to something like “Chocolate Sunday”? Maybe I could start by using disposable dinnerware and cutlery? A switch from linen napkins to paper is easy enough. What about catered meals? Think “Ordering food that doesn’t need to be reheated and doesn’t need to be carved and doesn’t require a lot of attention”. Yeah, that’s the ticket. I believe a holiday/holy day should be for the guests, too, so I’m not sure I’d go the potluck route. And, while I’ve mentioned “potluck”, I’m not opposed to people bringing food—I just don’t think I want to be the person who has to create a chart for the food to be brought along and then be the person who has to manage the whole shlimazel. Yep, I’m thinking simplicity, especially for me. While cooking and cleaning—as most of my family knows—is my love language, I’m just about okay with cooling the romance off a bit.
I’m not a kid anymore. It took me until today, April 12th, to recover from April 5th. I’m still finding jelly beans in odd places around the house. I’m not sure if someone thought it would be an Easter Bunny Funny on me or perhaps they grabbed too many and just put them down wherever, but I did find several loose jelly beans next to the toaster. I’ve almost de-weekended the whole place, but I am concerned once I get over the crush of hosting a big dinner I’ll cave when the next occasion comes to pass. It’s a good chance I’ll find myself doing what I’ve done for so many years. LOML thinks pizza would be just fine and said “As long as we get together, what’s served doesn’t matter.” Maybe a BBQ, a cooler full of drinks and a few big bags of Lays™ chips. What about Easter Bunny on the BBQ? Too much? Wrong? Not funny? Subs? TV dinners! Some with turkey and some with ham? Would S’mores for dessert be out-of-thequestion? Or maybe just pass the jelly beans around with the coffee.
I’m thinking, easy-peasy, unconventional but delicious. Stay tuned. OOOH, I spy a jelly bean.
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