We went to the weirdest Christmas party tonight. My arthritic mother hobbled over to our house to watch the kids while we toted our salad to the part of town with beautiful views and houses we could never afford.
The hosts provided a turkey breast cooked in one of those countertop contraptions you can buy on home shopping networks. Another couple provided a tray of vegetables, which complimented the two plates of crackers and assortment of dips. And I brought a salad with mandarin oranges and sugared almonds.
I would have eaten more of those crackers if I’d realized that our dinner was comprised of the turkey and my salad. And tall glasses of ice water.
I realize as I write this that I sound ungrateful and critical. Yes, well, I happen to be extremely good at singling out the worst bits of a situation. Call it my talent or my fatal flaw. Here’s the best part of the party: It wasn’t at my house and so I didn’t have to frantically clean for two days to bring my house up to company standards. And the tall glasses of water were satisfying and the turkey was delicious.
Anyway, despite the oddly stark dinner, we had a nice time and my clingy daughter survived an evening without me. She is sleeping soundly now, wearing her pink tights, red shoes with buckles and red-striped pajama shirt. She had three baths and wore five outfits today.
No wonder I can’t keep up with the laundry.
Actual Unretouched Photo 
OOOooo…I LOVE that salad! Do you make your own dressing for it also?
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Sounds like a normal holiday meal at my mother-in-law’s house. Once she invited us all over for steaks on the “grill”. There were 11 people and she made two steaks, on one of those indoor grills. We had to stop at a sub shop on the way home because we were all starving!
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We were once invited to my aunt’s for Thanksgiving dinner…along with everyone else in the family and all the friends her grandchildren drug along. The body count was about 30. She made an 8-10lb turkey and all the side dishes were sized appropriate to the bird. After her rather selfish and greedy grandchildren loaded their plates the rest of us were lucky to get one bite of everything. We left as soon as we could to join my husband’s family. They had already eaten and cleaned up. Even after hearing our tale of woe they didn’t offer us anything. We would have killed for Subway on the way home but NOTHING was open.
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They may be rich, and they may be nice in their way, but there seems to be a vast hole somewhere. Head or heart, I cannot tell.
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Coming from a family of Polish cooks on the one side and German on the other I cant imagine tables not groaning under the weight of food. Was that intentional or did this lady think others were bringing the salads and such. Something dont seem right here. I mean what hostess in her right mind would serve turkey and water w/ salad? I’d think twice before accepting a dinner invite there again!
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Bet they’re skinny too, huh?
I have the opposite problem, I can’t seem to stop cooking and serving!!
~K!
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What is it with the rich? 😉
Seriously, I have been to more than a few restaurants where you pay through the nose for the “artistry” of the chef and the 30 dollar an ounce herb they use in the risotto or whatever.
I avoid those restaurants at all costs.
That sounds like an odd dinner. I agree that perhaps they thought that it was supposed to be more of a potluck than it turned out to be. But really, just water? If I noticed that there wasn’t enough food or drink because someone didn’t bring a what they promised, then out Hubba-hubba would go to pick up something. Because nothing says bad host like a guest that leaves hungry, but didn’t want to.
If anything, I always have too many choices, and too much food leftover.
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Hey, you wanna be skinny or not?
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No dessert? Not even a Christmas cookie? What were these people thinking?
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It’s times like those I head for the potato chips at home later…
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Snazzy house, in the better part of town. Hmmm…not surprised. So many people want it all but can’t afford it. I find it rude to have a party and expect all your guests to supply the majority of the food.
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Hey, if nothing else it made for a great story, no? Some people just have no idea how to entertain people – my flaw is that I always make WAY too much food.
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Perhaps a guest or two (& their food offerings) were missing?
They probably didn’t offer dessert… because all they had was chocolate chip cookies.
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