Holiday Wrap Up

As I get older, the holidays are met with decidedly mixed emotions. It’s more exciting now, with a little boy who gazes with wonder at the lighted tree and the pretty decorations on it (taking the French horns off to try and play them and making the little bells jingle).

Christmas always makes me miss my mom and dad. During the last few years of their lives, I loved going down to their house on Christmas Eve, having some homemade goodies (cookies and fudge, mostly), driving to Spanaway Park to see the light show, and having some quiet time just to talk. It was nice to have that peaceful time with them before the house got filled with everybody else.

There have been times in the last few years when facing Christmas literally hurt. It made my chest ache with the emptiness of missing them.

But this year was different.

Part of that, I know, was the focus on little G-man and the excitement of seeing him open his presents on Christmas morning.

But it was due, in great part, to Lovefest 2011, the grand dinner I wrote about last week.

Sitting around that table, looking at all the people I rarely see, but have been a part of my life, some of them, for nearly twenty years, was a celebration of family all its own.

I have shared many meals with these wonderful people. Whether it was salami, cheese and wine during rehearsal or a Thanksgiving dinner for 30 people that we cooked ourselves or pork chops and an improvised pan sauce (“I had all that in my kitchen?”) or Mexican food and a bucket of margaritas…whatever the repast, we shared it with joy and love.

There have been other amazing meals, too. The homemade manicotti at my birthday party in Everett (meal inspired by what my dad cooked for me when I was a kid). The culinary adventures enjoyed before watching Battlestar Galactica in a darkened back room. The beautifully tender steak tips cooked by a vegetarian because she loves to feed her friends who eat meat. The gorgeous beef roast my inlaws made for Christmas dinner. The pate and brie and champagne I shared with my beautiful N on New Year’s Eve.

And fantastic desserts as well. Like the chocolate cake a friend made me for my birthday one year that made me cry because the only other person who had ever made me a birthday cake was my mom. The amazing sugar cookies we got as a Christmas present this year. The great cake experiments my friends have let me make for their special occasions (weddings, book releases, birthdays). The candy my mom used to make or to pies my dad baked.

The really wonderful thing about all of these dishes has been that they have been shared with family, both blood and chosen.

I am so blessed with so many lovely and loving people in my life. This holiday season I got to see a lot of them. So when the new year came around, I found myself surprisingly happy.

So thank you, to all of my friends, my chosen family and my blood family, for being here. You make life better.

I started writing here regularly in February and managed to make it to the page 35 times.

Thank you to all of you who visit, regularly or occasionally. I love food and I love words and I love getting to bring them together here every week.

Happy New Year, everyone. Here’s to another year of culinary adventures!!