<p>OMG, ellebud, you just bring your Jewish germs over to my house of Irish Catholics and you will have a real good time. Bring some latkes with you too : – ) </p>
<p>Have you broken the news to them, btw? You know, that JESUS WAS A JEW !!!</p>
<p>Thank you to all! And all of you are truly invited here…anytime. Our Christmas Eve party food ranges from Italian, Honeybaked Turkey and ham (you should excuse the expression…) to LOTS of wine and dessert. Oh, and a few veggies so we should be healthy for the new year. And all our Jewish friends love coming here because they have nowhere to go. And my kids invite all their friends (Jewish and nonJewish) for dinner.</p>
<p>Last year one friend of my kids, Christian, started to look uncomfortable around 11 at night. Finally he admitted that he had never missed Mass or Church for Christmas. There were 10 of us left in the house. We all walked up to the Church to accompany him so he wouldn’t be alone. I got a bit nervous that there wouldn’t be room for us…but no problem…we stood in back (no seats left) with my daughter’s friend. Then we had hot chocolate and desserts…again. I love a good party.</p>
<p>Look, in the end, this is their loss. My nephew is one lonely kid. He could have had cousins. And the rest of them are trying to make amends (in a strange way) because my kids are useful/and they, the old people, are dying off. </p>
<p>And I…and my mirror cleaner…are available for here or to go. Just know that we laugh (perhaps too loudly), put the tinsel discussion to a higher art form (I bought solid tinsel to quell the battle…husband likes the strand by strand method), and I make too much food…just in case the Russian army shows up.</p>
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<p>Count me in with the crowds who are keeling over and dying at this comment…!</p>
<p>In fact, you remind me of another family tradition, discontinued in recent years due to deaths and divorces, but it was fun all the same… We’d bring everyone over for a Christmas Eve party at our house, where we’d have tamales. Eventually, we realized that one of our best family friends, who is Jewish, didn’t really have anywhere to hang out for Christmas, so we invited him along. (He’s quite the character-- he’s from Mexico, he’s fluent in several languages, he’s one of the leading authorities on Frida Kahlo, and in addition to being an art dealer and historian, he’s also a child psychologist. “Always remember, little girl,” he would tell me when I was small and we were looking at Botticelli prints in art books, “that Venus rhymes with–” “THANK YOU, that’s quite enough,” my mom would interrupt…) He and my dad would frequently go out for lunch and have sushi, since they were some of the few in our world who enjoyed sushi. At some point, sushi was added to our annual menu.</p>
<p>Christmas Eve ended up becoming a celebration of sushi, sake, nachos, tamales, and brandy-soaked fruitcake, with “A Christmas Story” playing on endless loop in the background, open to odd, raucously loud, bawdy-humored family and friends of all faiths and persuasions (to which ellebud and her not-so-extended family would of COURSE be welcomed). :)</p>
<p>spritz of glass cleaner: that reminds me of Our Big Fat Greek Wedding and the Windex.</p>
<p>We will need to add baklava and saganaki to our feast.</p>
<p>Opah!</p>
<p>(to be read in a prim voice): Jesus wouldn’t have been included in their Christmas. Yes, he was, afterall, Jewish.</p>
<p>Now…I think that we have the makings of a wonderful party here: baklava, tamales, sushi, saganaki, lasagne, honeybaked ham and turkey, music, wine, latkes, fabulous desserts…but can we nix the creamed onions? My house 5 pm Christmas Eve. (I can handle up to 135 inside, so I think we’re good.)</p>
<p>I’ll be there. My offerings tend to be toward the baked end, so after everyone has honored their dining options and lapped up the great food of the other cuisines, come back by my place and I’ll serve everyone cinnimon rolls and scrambled eggs. I love that those of us with different traditions e-share.</p>
<p>I really want to come to the party!! I’ll bring anything.</p>
<p>ellebud and friends: I know this is derailing the thread a bit, but I have to say that I would not accept this treatment or see those people. Yeah, I have made waves in my family.</p>
<p>The “Jewish germs” just really got me.</p>
<p>Ellebud – your Christmas eve sounds wonderful and so do you.</p>
<p>We should all try to avoid “bigot germs.”</p>