Christmas Calamities

Christmas Eve for the Ash Fam is usually spent with Mimi at the home of Aunt Janet and Uncle Ed with lots of cousins. A lovely family tradition! This year, it would just be me, Chris, Connor and Rachel at home. Though it was not our normal tradition, I was excited to have quality time with my little family. Connor and Rachel were coming over and would be spending the night.

We got takeout from Lemoncello. Due to Christmas Eve order volume, we had to pick the food up much earlier than we needed it. Connor had to work, so he and Rachel planned to come over after he was done.

Chris and I were hungry, so Chris put some fontina cheese out for us to munch on while we waited. I have always joked with Chris about fontina cheese. It has a stronger taste than I prefer and I call it “stinky cheese”. When it got close to the time Connor and Rachel were to arrive, I put the appetizers in the oven to warm up. I had ordered artichokes french and some fried calamari. My plan was to heat them up, we could take them out of the oven and eat them right when they got here. Then our meals could warm up in the oven when we ate the appetizers. The perfect plan!!

The kids arrived and I got one of the appetizers out and left the oven door open to go back and retrieve the second. Connor came in first and I gave him a hug. Just as I backed away from hugging him, Rachel came in and I tripped backwards on the open oven door. I popped up in the air and landed solidly on the door! The look on Rachel’s face was PRICELESS! Adrenaline must have played a part in me being able to pop right up off the door to then greet Rachel with a hug. All the while, the kids were in shock and asking me if I was okay. I was fine! The door, however, had seen better days.

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Everyone came in and got settled and the appetizers were on the table. I was on the kitchen floor working dents out of the oven door when the kids asked what it was that was on the table. I forgot the appetizers were there and I told them that it was fontina cheese. I told them about how Dad likes it and it is not my first choice. Before I knew it, they were both at the trash spitting out the food. People after my own heart! I never expected them to have that kind of reaction, but okay…apparently they really don’t like fontina cheese. Flash forward to us all sitting at the table. I asked Connor and Rachel if they were going to have some artichokes french and motioned to the dish. They both looked at me and said that was the cheese they just ate…it was horrible! No, thanks, they said. Ooops! I guess if I had been told artichokes french was cheese, I might have had the same reaction they did!  Needless to say, no one shared the artichokes with me which is fine because I love them.

My Christmas day project was to fix the oven door which would not close tightly after its trauma. I took the oven door apart and cleaned it up while I was at it. Now it closes completely and is fully functional! It worked so well, it set off the smoke alarm when I slightly burned the bottoms of the dinner rolls I heated up for Christmas dinner later that same day!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were wonderful. We had really fantastic fun together and it was good for our hearts and souls. I am thankful for the blessing that is my family! I am also thankful that I didn’t end up in urgent care.

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