Some Ideas on Christmas Eve Dinner

When it comes to the holidays there is nothing like family traditions. They are the kinds of things you can really look forward and get a kind of warm and fuzzy feeling for. You know, you sit there in July and suddenly think back to those Christmas Eve dinners of your youth and they have those kind of warm soft glowing feel to them like the way people are lit and framed in a Barbara Walters special.

The truth is, of course, that none of those memories you have are really as warm or fuzzy as you remember. Sue, all you had to do was show up and then try not to wreck the house while playing with your siblings or cousins and then sit down and eat. You probably never gave any thought at all to the fact that your mother or your aunt or your grandmother had to get up at 4 am and start preparing a turkey or a ham or a goose or, in the case with my family, about five billion Swedish Meatballs.

Meatballs, you say? Meatballs, I say.

You see in addition to not being appreciative of the work that went into those memories, you probably don't realize that your family traditions sound like something people from the planet Borantu might do to everyone else, at least that's how it is in my family where the traditional family recipe for Christmas Eve, on my mom's side of the family, has always been big heaping bowls of Swedish Meatballs.

I have no idea how this tradition got started. If I had to guess, I would say it started with my grandmother on my mom's side. Many holiday traditions in my family started on that side. My grandmother was known for being a great cook and she had a recipe box filled with traditional family recipes. Many of those got handed down to my mom and my aunts over the years.

My family is not Swedish, however. Just to make the whole tradition even more baffling and head-scratching than it already is, why not throw in that little tidbit. Yes, we are mostly German. Is is that there are now German meatballs? Did Germany invade Sweden and some point and pilfer their precious meatball recipe? I can only hazard a guess.

The meal is actually pretty good, if you happen to like Swedish Meatballs. Not everyone does. They are, just like bratwurst and hot dogs, filled with things that you probably don't really want to know what's in them. I think beef is involved, but I don't know. There were times when my brother and I were pressed into service preparing the meatballs. After being adequately scrubbed down our process was simply to stick our hands in a big bowl full of mysterious meat and begin forming them into balls.

Other things are adding. I think sour cream is involved. I know this because I became lactose intolerant at some point which necessitated my own special bowl of meatballs be prepared using a soy version of sour cream. Nothing like the shortbus version of a family holiday tradition to make one feel special.

There is also red cabbage. I have no idea how red cabbage and Swedish Meatballs go together, but you would be surprised how good the two taste together. I remember the year my cousin Steve and I discovered that the red cabbage on the fork before spearing a piece of meatball released quite the party on the palate. Trust me on this.

Over the years our family has broken with this tradition at times. While the rest of the world is eating a turkey or a ham or perhaps a lamb or goose or duck we were eating little balls of mystery meat. So, during holidays when, perhaps, my aunt and uncle headed out of town or something, a traditional turkey was made. This then came along with stuffing and cranberries and mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes and, of course, more red cabbage. We are definitely a family that likes warmed up red cabbage that gives you gas afterward.

The problem with any of these is the sheer number of dishes that are required to serve them. It's truly amazing too look at all of the bowls and plates and glasses and spoons and forks and other things that get used. Then there is the wreckage in the kitchen afterwards. It's like some kind of World War Two battle aftermath. Those who survived storming the beaches of Normandy would look at the carnage left behind from my family after a traditional holiday meal, be it meatballs or otherwise, and shudder.

Of course this is something else you get to ignore if you are a child. You have presents to open, perhaps, or toys to play with. Perhaps your cousin has a new video game and you really need to get back to that. In my family the adults would take care of the carnage of dishes and leftovers while we kids were given a pass to go do whatever it was we kids were into. I remember a Lite-Brite being particularly important one year.

These days as we have grown into adults, however, we have begun to discover just how much work was involved in this meals. The idea of sticking our hands in traditional bowls of raw meat and forming them into balls does not seem quite as much fun as it used to be. Suddenly those places that offer to cook a turkey for you and then the entire meal shows up cooked and ready to eat in little aluminum trays looks pretty good.

This has caused people in my family to start looking for non-traditional Christmas Eve fare. Sushi suddenly sounds very appetizing. Also ordering from the Chinese place down the road sounds really good. A nice plate of pork fried rice, for example, with a lot of sweet and sour sauce added sounds just as delectable as a fork full of meatballs mixed with red cabbage.

So, for this year, we have checked out the local delivery places. This has included the afore-mentioned Chinese restaurant. My family has recently broken with another tradition and found a new Chinese place that we really like.

So, if you want my advice, skip the traditions. To me traditions are just things you do because you can't come up with something new to do. Give yourself or the people around you who have to do the cooking and the clean up a break. Pick up a carry out or delivery menu from your local Chinese restaurant. It gives them something to do that night too.