Dec Days: Christmas Traditions I like/dislike, for Frozen_Delight

[citrus_java]

On the December Days meme, frozen_delight asked: What's your favourite and what's your least favourite Christmas tradition?

My family's and people who were my family's religions and so forth are/were very varied, so I wasn't raised with Christian traditions, very much. M is Christian, so I started celebrating it for her.

I like: the lights! Oh, oh, Man, all the shiny!!! I mean, it's so much glitter! And lights! My drag queen self and just my... little girl self and my... warm wintery-ness wanting selves - ahh!!!!! YES . like that. And that warm fuzzy good will thing people get when they;re toasty and forgiving and more empathic than usual....
We only went tree shopping once, cause we got a reusable folding tree thingy, but all the beauty and beautiful tackiness and... hope ... about it... Man... yeah...
And the... family and hope... ness to it ... all...
Egg nog. I love egg nog, I love that the masses liked my vegan version better than the non-vegan version, I liked making up recipes and experimenting with that and making yummy food. And bragging about it, too ;)

Family, safety...

This:

(for the lyrics)





Things I dislike about it:
Well, since I was the one organizing it for large groups of people - argh. All the budgeting, all the things everyone can't eat, all the work for days cooking, especially since it;'s hard for me, all the stuff like people not showing up at the last minute or saying they won''t come then showing up late with a date I literally don't have a chair for and expecting me to serve them like I work there... all the people participating officially in the Secret Santa thing but not actually getting gifts and me having to (or feeling I had to) get presents for people instead of them, so somehow I end up responsible for a million gifts I can't afford for people I don't even necessarily know, and trying to still be thoughtful and find something specifically for them, and often not really getting anything thoughtful for me, cause thoughtful was 'my responsibility'. Oh - and one year my mother's boyfriend-at-the-time felt it was his place to divide the leftovers between his kids without even asking. He didn't make them, pay for them, he was a guest, he didn't even bring a gift for my mom, I had to get her one in his place cause 'he doesn't feel comfortable with that sort of thing', but my mom insisted they both had to be part of the secret Santa thing. And my mom nitpicking and criticizing the way I arranged things. And people complaining about whatever issues they had with the food: there is plenty of variety, eat something else and shut up. You know - the Christmas spirit!

Comments

[penderies.livejournal.com]

Planning parties is such effort. I've done it a few times and each time I'm like ... but is it worth it? :p

I've actually never had eggnog, how funny.

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

Absolutely.

Probably, for me, it's about realizing in advance that's the way it was going to be / setting more boundaries / deciding how much I was willing to put into it to do it in order to decide / how much participation from others in organizing it was necessary for me to do it / only inviting people I want there.


In actuality, we just didn't do it for 2-3 years

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

O! And I rec egg nog, it's like spicy ice cream in a nice way..........

[frozen_delight]

Thanks so much! <3

I really understand both the love of the lights and the horror of all the planning. And family gatherings can be so difficult too - and then you put so much effort into them, but at the end of the day you think that no one really enjoyed it and it's just ugh.

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

Thank you!




Yes, re family gatherings... but then - I do miss some of those people, and the sense of stability, home ...

[balder12.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, I like the lights too. Me and my parents used to drive around various neighborhoods just to see all the houses lit up. And I liked decorating the Christmas tree, although I fully understand why my parents started putting lights on the potted ficus once I stopped believing in Santa--those needles can be a real pain to sweep up.

I'm curious about your delicious vegan eggnog recipe! I have some vegan friends who might enjoy it.

I feel very lucky that my family has never demanded anyone put on an excessive Christmas party. You buy a gift you can afford for the people who seem likely to show up, and the host makes sure there's enough ham and macaroni-and-cheese for everyone, and plenty of liquor (if you don't like what the host drinks, you bring your own). Then everyone just drinks and plays board games, or possibly we make fun of old scifi movies.

Ugh, you've reminded me that I haven't even started to think about presents, and I've only got three weeks. My parents have everything already! And who on earth knows what my grandmother wants?

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

I'd gladly give you the recipe, but like a lot of my recipes it's mostly a list of ingredients I'm pretty sure I put in it, and instructions to mix and taste till it tastes nice. I'd originally intended to base it on fresh almond milk dame from scratch, but there wasn't enough, so I added some - it was either soy milk or soy cream or reduced soy milk, they're all pretty much the same, though the cream adds some thickness that's good there. IINM I warmed a little milk or water up and cooked spices in it - some combination like nutmeg, cinnamon, orange peel, allspice, cloves, cardamom IINM, and dark brown sugar (gotta be the moist dark kind, otherwise perhaps date syrup without added sugar will work better than other kinds of sugar - it's just a different flavor). I tried to whip the rest of the milk to give it some texture, but that didn't go as well as I'd hoped, so I'd add vegan milk with higher fat just to make it richer, but it went well without much body as well. Oh, yeah - mix everything, add white rum, and if you want, a little whiskey.

The key is *lots* of spices, a *lot*, no extracts or artificial flavoring - not cause it's wrong, cause it ruins it - and if possible, fresh milk just tastes better.

This came out much better than years we tried fancy techniques to make it more eggy and such. It's just more direct, and tasty. Even just getting soy milk and flavoring it with lots of spices works better than most ready-made stuff, IMO.






Aw, Christmas at your family's sounds sweet and comfy, delightful.
Yay for making fun of movies and playing boardgames! What sorts do you like?

Ugh, I hear you re present! What does anyone want?
IDK, Docto Who scarves?