Your holiday hill to die on.

[rose red]

^ Oh that's good.  And $20 (maybe throw in a few more bucks) can buy enough for a party at KFC or Chinese food.

eta: Since I know how families are and if you do end up cooking, you don't have to slave and suffer.  Just throw a ham in the oven and buy frozen/canned sides.  If anyone complains, tell them that you look forward to their fresh homecooked, made from scratch meal at Easter.

[darling]

Ham's a great idea, because it's awesome without much work at all! And leftovers! (Sorry, I just love a good ham!)

[Luci45]

Ham's a great idea, because it's awesome without much work at all! And leftovers! (Sorry, I just love a good ham!)

What! Cutting up the darn thing is not fun. I'll take the bone if someone wants to get rid of it.

I love a good ham, but the sliced, boneless thing is just not worth more than lunchmeat.

[Shoo]

Ham's a great idea, because it's awesome without much work at all! And leftovers! (Sorry, I just love a good ham!)

What! Cutting up the darn thing is not fun. I'll take the bone if someone wants to get rid of it.

I love a good ham, but the sliced, boneless thing is just not worth more than lunchmeat.

That is why they invented spiral cut hams. 

[Xallanthia]

I will not watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Anyone at my parents' house who wants to do so is more than welcome, but I will be elsewhere.

Also, if my mom refers to us having a "Griswold Family Christmas" (when no one in the immediate family, extended family or even family by marriage has a name that's even close to Griswold), I may actually scream.

I really, really hate that movie.

I feel the same way about A Christmas Story.

[JoyinVirginia]

Our family holiday hill is that we will always find time on christmas eve or christmas day, to all sit together and watch A Christmas Story. With the leg lamp older dd gave us prominently displayed in the front window! You'll shoot your eye out!

[Auntie Mame]

I will not watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Anyone at my parents' house who wants to do so is more than welcome, but I will be elsewhere.

Also, if my mom refers to us having a "Griswold Family Christmas" (when no one in the immediate family, extended family or even family by marriage has a name that's even close to Griswold), I may actually scream.

I really, really hate that movie.

I feel the same way about A Christmas Story.

I refuse to watch "It's a Wonderful Life".  I am so sick of that movie I could scream.  I would rather listen to an album of bad Christmas music sung by Nickelback and Kathy Lee Gifford.

ETA: No offense to those who enjoy Christmas music.  I worked retail for many many years and my love of Christmas music was destroyed.

[Redneck Gravy]

Apparently, another hill arrived this week...

No, I will not stand in an hour long line at the grocery store today because at the last minute my kids have decided I should cook a traditional turkey & dressing dinner for Christmas eve!  There are restaurants open that evening - pick one. 

We will have the smoked turkey (I already own), mashed potatoes and green bean casserole for Christmas day lunch.  You girls want more, get your fannies into the kitchen and prepare it.  We have over 100 cookbooks and internet service - find the recipe you want to deal with.

I work 60 hours a week and took college classes, spring and fall and both summer semesters - I'm tired and I am happy with a cold sandwich and tomato slices.  And I have a very, very stiff spine!

[diesel_darlin]

Redneck Gravy, I would just like to say that your screen name is awesome. 

Now back to thread already in progress. 

[Auntie Mame]

Apparently, another hill arrived this week...

No, I will not stand in an hour long line at the grocery store today because at the last minute my kids have decided I should cook a traditional turkey & dressing dinner for Christmas eve!  There are restaurants open that evening - pick one. 

We will have the smoked turkey (I already own), mashed potatoes and green bean casserole for Christmas day lunch.  You girls want more, get your fannies into the kitchen and prepare it.  We have over 100 cookbooks and internet service - find the recipe you want to deal with.

I work 60 hours a week and took college classes, spring and fall and both summer semesters - I'm tired and I am happy with a cold sandwich and tomato slices.  And I have a very, very stiff spine!

You know to this day my mom still gives everyone two choices for dinner.  Take it, or leave it! 

[The Wild One, Forever]

I will not watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Anyone at my parents' house who wants to do so is more than welcome, but I will be elsewhere.

Also, if my mom refers to us having a "Griswold Family Christmas" (when no one in the immediate family, extended family or even family by marriage has a name that's even close to Griswold), I may actually scream.

I really, really hate that movie.

I feel the same way about A Christmas Story.

I refuse to watch "It's a Wonderful Life".  I am so sick of that movie I could scream.  I would rather listen to an album of bad Christmas music sung by Nickelback and Kathy Lee Gifford.

ETA: No offense to those who enjoy Christmas music.  I worked retail for many many years and my love of Christmas music was destroyed.

I am LOL at the thought of a Nickleback and KLG holiday collaboration... I think I'd have to own it just for the sheer randomness!  My best friend/current housemate has this "Crossroads" DVD of Train with Martina McBride.   It's off-key, bland, and just all kinds of wrong, but she loves it and watches it over and over and over...

[sevenday]

New holiday hill to die on, as decided yesterday afternoon... I will not carpool with my parents to my sister's house for Christmas Morning anymore.  I am generally ready to leave before everyone else, but Dad promised we wouldn't stay long.  Mom and I were ready to leave to make room for the next batch of arriving guests (my BIL's side of the family) -- and then Dad decided to hand his $FancyPresent to my youngest nephew.  More than half an hour later, I convinced my sister to get the kid to put the thing down.  Mom asks him, "Are you ready to go?" And Dad says, "Where are we going?"  I promptly scooped it up handed it to Dad.  Thankfully he got the hint at that point and we left - JUST in time, because as we pulled out of the only available parking space left - the car containing my BIL's sister and mother came up the road.  They would have had to park about a block away, and his mom has difficulty walking.   I don't mind telling you I was ready to strangle him.  So yes, icy roads and snow or not, I'm driving myself next year!!

[KenveeB]

My dad is like that, sevenday.  He'll announce we're absolutely leaving in ten minutes, then wait nine and a half minutes and start to get ready. Or he'll say we're leaving right now and then spend twenty minutes saying goodbye to people. Drives me nuts!

[Kariachi]

So's my dad. He wonders why, when he says we're leaving someone's house, we make ourselves comfortable. We keep having to explain that whenever he says that he spends another hour or two talking to people.

[LadyClaire]

I will never host DH's family at our house for Christmas eve again.

We had no plans for Christmas eve, so DH suggested that we have his parents over. Ok, that's fine. He asks me to make a particular dish that is a kind of soup made with pasta noodles. This dish is very soothing, very easy to eat, and he asked for it because his dad had just had the rest of his teeth pulled and couldn't wear dentures just yet. So I buy the ingredients for the soup as well as a few appetizer things that his dad could manage. Two days after that, DH said he invited his brother and SIL as well, since they had no plans, either. Ok...I can accommodate them as well, no huge deal, though I am not exactly thrilled by the addition of extra people.

The day before Christmas eve, DH texts me to tell me that he has also invited his sister, her two teenaged sons, and her boyfriend. Now this, I have an issue with. This particular soup is not exactly something you serve to so many people. I don't have enough ingredients to stretch it to that many extra people. I had to ask my sister to pick up another pack of chicken for me from the store when she went, since I could have no time to do it myself.

Christmas eve, I spend the day cleaning the house like mad and sweating over dinner, which I turned into the soup with roast chicken for the main course. DH had told his family dinner would be served at 7:00. It gets to be later, and later, and..no one is there. Half an hour passes. No one. No calls. No texts. The soup, by is point, is no longer a soup..it is now bloated, mushy pasta that has soaked up every bit of broth. The roast chicken is cold. Finally, his parents show up. His sister and her brood show up nearly an hour later, and his brother and SIL are nearly two hours late. His sister's boyfriend tracked dirt on the carpet, they all left the kitchen and living room a wreck, and when everyone left I realized my expensive kitchen scissors were missing. Last time his sister was here a nearly brand new box of tampons vanished from my bathroom cabinet, so...I am guessing it was probably her.

His mother asked if this would be a new family tradition. I told her "no, I don't think so. Perhaps DH's brother/SIL will want to do something next year since they will have the baby then".