My First Christmas

OK, technically its my 30th Christmas on God's green earth but its my first Christmas to host. Oh the excitement! Oh, the terror!

Here it is early November and I'm already thinking about what I'm going to do for dinner. Turkey or prime rib? Mashed potatoes and candied yams? Fruit salad the way my family does it or the way Ryan's family does it? Bread or rolls? Cranberry jelly or no cranberry jelly? Canned cranberry jelly or homemade cranberry jelly? (Home made cranberry jelly is more high brow but it doesn't make the cool slurrrr-plop sound like the canned stuff does). Chocolate pie, pumpkin or pecan pie? Do I make bread pudding like Ryan's family does every year so we can light it on fire with brandy and eat it with hard sauce?

Those are just the questions about food. What about linens? Will the one table cloth we have do? Is it stained with sap from the years we used it as a makeshift tree skirt for our mini Christmas tree we hoisted on an old metal secretaries desk when Kea was a puppy? Do I try to make a pretty centerpiece for the table or do I buy one? Do I forgo the centerpiece and use the pretty silver candle sticks? Will people burn themselves if they pass dishes over the candles? But is it really my fault if people play with fire? Do I buy napkin rings? Do I make napkin rings like Martha Stewart? Are napkin rings the most useless item on the face of the planet? Do I iron the cloth napkins? Do I buy new napkins because the off-white linen ones we have now are bit casual? Am I completely crazy for thinking about buying new napkins when so many people out there would be happy with a meal from McDonald's on Christmas just because the perfectly nice and functional napkins I do have aren't pretty enough?

Am I really crazy because in all likelihood it will be me, Ryan, Gavin and Ryan's dad and step-mom for dinner? I would like to invite more people but until we have a familial head count I can't because we have a small space in which to host a sit down meal.

There is one thing I don't have a question about: china. Not China but china. Ryan's aunt and uncle give us a part of a Christmas collection of china every year as a gift. The motif is the "Christmas Story". Each plate, cup, bowl has a line from the story on it. They are beyond cute and this year we will get to use them all! I'm so excited to be able to use them at a dinner party! If we end up having more people than we have enough place settings of the cute Christmas china then I will support the economy and buy a few plates that will match but can be used off-season as well as to not make them a completely frivolous purchase.

There is so much to be done between now and Christmas! Aside from making the guest room inhabitable I have to learn how to bake a pie, make bread pudding and hard sauce and once I figure out the menu I have to learn how to cook a turkey (or prime rib) and stuffing and all of the sides and learn how to make sure they are all done at the same time! Yowza.

I think a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond is in order. I need a lot of timers.