Progressive Christmas Dinner

One morning over coffee, we were talking about our favorite Christmas. Both of us agreed that it was during a time before William was born. My sister Lee was still married to her first husband Hal and they lived in the same town as his parents and very close to my parents. We were living in our first house here on the coast.

Each year, we would meet at noon for appetizers at one of our homes. For example, we would meet at Lee and Hal’s, see their tree, have cocktails and hearty appetizers, open all the presents from them, sing around the piano and, several hours later, drive to the next house.

We were next on the stop for soup and salad. And cocktails. And presents. And singing. Then several hours later, we all would drive to my parent’s house for dinner. And cocktails. And presents. Many hours later, we would drive to Hal’s parents for dessert. And presents. And cocktails. And coffee.

Christmas was an all day event. It was fresh and new every few hours and we never got home before midnight. No one had the burden of serving the huge group of people for an entire day. Everyone visited everyone’s house. It was so great.

We both remember a lot of laughing, singing and just having fun. Things changed when Lee and Hal bought a house many miles away then went through a divorce. But, for those few years, we really did have a lot of fun with our annual Progressive Christmas Dinner.

The best of times.