The evolution of a Christmas tradition

Sunday night marked the 8^th anniversary of the Christmas dinner tradition my best friends and I began when we were fifteen. Well, 8 years ago give or take. The last couple of years our tradition was passed over, just because it was impossible to find a time when the five of us were in the same city and available on the same day! Between me and another friend being out of town for school, and two of the others who normally spend the holidays vacationing, keeping our high school tradition alive has been harder than ever! Despite my hopes for this year, when we were all finally going to be in the same city for the first time in five years, the planning was just as difficult! It made me nostalgic for the high school years when seeing your best girls was an everyday occurrence; ironically, making the seeing one another at Christmas dinner less important, but easier, than it is now.

We began this tradition in tenth grade.  By then, me and my close group of girlfriends had already known each other for eight years.  At such a young age, we were already a family, and we thought that a Christmas dinner was due to celebrate that. We decided to do a potluck (which for most of us meant that our mothers prepared some yummy dish—I only barely learned to cook when I went away for university) and exchanged small gifts around the Christmas tree.  The following year, we decided to do Kris Kringle instead, and buy a bigger gift for one person, since only a few of us had part time jobs hence, the gift giving was also brought-to-you-by our parents. (Merry Christmas, from my mom just doesn’t have the same ring to it as a gift you buy yourself, am I right?)

Christmas dinner 2006. (Sorry about the poorly blurred faces, privacy and all that)

By the time we were eighteen, the idea of Christmas dinner became more important than ever—my friend Sarina and I had both gone out of town for university, and we happened to be on opposite ends of the province. Two of my other friends had also begun intensive post secondary programs, and the final member of our group of five was hunting for full time employment; safe to say, we all had quite a bit on our plates and our communication had dwindled significantly. I came into town one weekend specifically for Christmas dinner, and I remember how excited I was when my friends pulled up at the bus station to pick me up. It truly felt like a family reunion, but one you actually want to attend. By Christmas 2008, we all had so many other financial responsibilities that we decided to cut out gift exchange altogether, thinking it was better to spend time and money on actually cooking for our annual potluck, and just enjoying being in one another’s company after such long separation. But you’d never get the sense anything was “missing”, since we were all laughs and smiles (ok so the multiple bottles of wine we consumed may have contributed to that); we even took what you might call “traditional family photos” with the whole group in front of the tree.

Christmas dinner 2008

That was the last time we were able to get together for our annual potluck dinner. Even this year, one of my friends was missing due to a family function, but we just COULD NOT find another day that worked for the majority of the group, so we decided more attendance was better than no Christmas dinner at all. We held dinner a little bit later than usual, to accommodate the work schedules of two of my friends, but even still everyone contributed something, the wine flowed and it felt like we were eighteen again. This year, for the first time, it was really starting to hit home that traditions like these may be harder to keep as the years go on and life gets busier, which makes them that much more important, even if it is the only time I see my best friends during the entire holiday season. It would sadden me to see these aspects of our friendship take the backburner to inevitable life changes: I hope we will continue our Christmas tradition unto the point where we are each bringing our own families to celebrate with old friends.  Essentially, it is all about making traditions of love, like our Christmas dinner, a priority, agreeing to make compromises and sacrifices where necessary to ensure that for that one night a year, our little family is all present to celebrate not only the holiday season, but the fact that after so many years of adolescent struggle, the pressures of high school, physical separation and the difficulties that come with growing up, our friendship has survived, and is as strong as ever.

I felt that emphasizing this was most important this of all years, since I have a feeling that the next few years there will bring some big life changes for many of my friends wherein remembering and relying on your truest friends will be crucial. To reiterate to my girls my love and appreciation for them and our friendship, I decided to give them each a small token from my heart. True to my literary soul, I wrote them each a poem to commemorate the years past and express my hope for the future. I put them in frames that cost me no more than a couple of bucks, and I got a more emotional and appreciative response than I would have expected. Just goes to show that around the holidays, gifts given from love (whether that be kind words on a page or spoken aloud, or time spent together) are really all any of us can ask for. I encourage everyone to make similar traditions with close friends or family, at the very least to ensure that no matter how crazy life gets, there remains a stable foundation of love on which to rely, the sharing of which one can unwaveringly 

look forward to year after year.

However, I intend to make sure that next year’s Christmas dinner includes all five of our group. I may need to start planning now. 

Oat drops... of heaven!

I'VE JUST BEEN SCHOOLED.  By my dog.
 I grew up with big, hairy mutts in a busy, loud household.  We ate healthy and our dogs ate dry kibble-- the brands we could afford that seemed reasonably healthy.  We didn't do gluten-free-vegan-soy-milk-whatever and my dogs certainly didn't either.  It was well-intended pragmatism (of people and pets fortunate enough not to have dietary restrictions).
And we got lucky; if you pause to think about all the poison that is literally being shipped from sketchy factories from the developing world, lining a select few pockets with billions of dollars, we got very lucky.  Most of our dogs made it to a decent age in above-average health.
In university, my upstairs neighbor-- now in vet school-- cooked her adopted collie full-on meals of ground beefs, green beans and rice, every night.  Well, I can tell you that even unemployed and in my parents' basement, I still don't have the time, energy or money to do that for my furbaby.  Kudos to you superheroes who do.
BUT I WILL SAY THIS:
The Peanut Butter Oat Drop treats were SO EASY to make; I'm converted.

Pretty simple ingredients.

It took less than 15 minutes to whip up the mix, and I only dirtied one bowl and two beaters (if you don't own a dishwasher, you'll understand why I keep a Dirty Dish score that factors into everything I make).  Also, the recipe is freakishly similar to some diet cookies I've tried from Pinterest.

The only dirty dishes!  Not bad.

And the dogs LOVE them.  Now, my dogs aren't picky eaters, so they do chow down with gusto on just about anything edible, but I think I detected a particular zeal in their munching with these Oat Drops.
I've stored half the amount I made in the freezer, and the other half is in the treat jar-- they're three days old now and still look fine.

Monkey just woke up from (another) nap and he's so excited for his Oat Drop!

I'll probably never buy big-name brand treats again.  It's just not worth the effort (researching who's on the bad list, what those unpronounceable ingredients are etc.) or the risk, when I can so easily and cost-effectively whip these up.
IF YOU MAKE THEM: I halved the recipe, to see if it would be a success.  It took me two rounds using one cookie sheet, so I was watching the oven for about 50 minutes.  Next time, I'll make the whole batch and use two cookie sheets to speed up the process.

Make use of all the space on your cookie sheet-- they don't expand!

Don't forget, probably because there's no yeast in them, they don't rise or expand, so plop those f**kers right next to each other all crammed together nice and tight on the baking sheet.  Do what the directions say: half teaspoon drops are big enough.
Also, I used quick oats because that was all we had on hand.  It still worked out, though next time, I'll use regular rolled oats.
Finally, mine required five fewer minutes in the oven than the directions said.  Had they stayed in the entire time, they might have burnt.  So keep a watchful eye.  Do as I did; I called a dear old friend and chatted away while the treats baked.

Gotta book it!
-JEM