The Feast on Christmas Eve

My memories of dinner on Christmas Eve are of meals appropriate for the Holy Family as they slept in mean estate in a stable of animals in the little town of Bethlehem, for there was no room in the inn for Joseph and Mary, who was with child, to stay.  My mother served us hot dogs or pizza on Christmas Eve, for we were perennially in a rush to get to the children's service at church, light our candles with real open flame and move out into the San Joaquin Valley's thick Tule Fog while singing Silent Night.  Hot dogs and/or pizza was quick to prepare and serve and besides who wanted food?  It was Christmas Eve! and that is when the Sunesons (claiming Swedish tradition) opened the gifts under the tree.  Santa would bring more gifts that night to be discovered on Christmas Day. My mother, who spent two years in Puerto Rico as a missionary, would remind us that in Puerto Rico gifts were exchanged on January 6th, El Dia de Los Reyes, the Day of the Three Kings.  Even though I could see the connection to gifts and the visit of the magi (wisemen or kings); I thought, those poor Puerto Ricans, they have to wait until next year to get their Christmas presents; sure glad I'm an American.

Anyway, we've ended up doing thing different around here, one step forward, one step back.  Somehow, long ago our kids seemed to think it was cheating on Jesus to open the gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve, so we have for years waited until Christmas Day.  But, we no longer boil a package of hot dogs on Christmas Eve for dinner; no, now we eat in a manner more fitting of King Herod.

Grant had made plans to fly in from his home in New York City to see the old folks for Christmas.  Being somewhat junior on the Wallstreet 24/7 staff when he asked for the 23rd through the 27th off, his easy going boss said, sure, have a Merry Christmas.  However, his easy going boss did not check the vacation schedule, so Grant later learned from his boss that he could keep and use his airline tickets to come to Texas - just he'd have to work remote on the 24th and 26th (i.e. no real Christmas Vacation).

Grant landed a quarter-hour before midnight on the 23rd, and with no carry on luggage, we whisked out of Terminal E at DFW an on to the neighborhood What-A-Burger, now a tradition for his arrival back on Texas soil.

Sue had a low-key role for the Christmas Eve children's service that night of the 24th.  She left around 3:30 in the afternoon to get ready for her role in the sanctuary.  Meanwhile, the two of us had splurged on gourmet feast ingredients at Central Market earlier the previous day.

A visit to the upscale grocery store
and we return with oysters and a new oyster shucking knife.
I got to be a quicker shucker as I worked through the pile of oysters.

It was supposed to be a joyous occasion, Grant was returning home, it is a holiday, it is Jesus' birthday and let us have a merry Christmas starting about now!  It was to be seafood feast, we picked up 3 Alaskan Snow Crab clusters, 9 Gulf Coast oysters, 10 large scallops and 1.4 lbs of steamer clams (one more clever than I could imagine fitting this shopping list into the 12 Days of Christmas song).  We had artichokes and garlic butter and a crusty sourdough bread with a nice Loire Valley white French wine on our menu.

Grant and Sue assemble the silver centerpiece
While Mark is preparing the
four course seafood feast

I asked Grant to put together the silver candelabra for our feast table, but he realized the disassembled centerpiece was missing a critical part.  So that project was put on hold, awaiting Sue's return to see where the missing part might be located, since she had removed all of the pieces from their cloth bag so the bag could be used as a treasure-bag prop in the children's Christmas Play the week before.  Once she returned from the Holy Land, we produced the missing part and the two set about to assemble an elegant centerpiece for the feast.

Oysters Markafeller
ready for the oven

Mmmm. Baked Oyster for
Christmas Eve Feast

While Sue went to work to distribute gifts and the Gospel at church, I stayed behind to prepare for the Christmas Eve feast.  Most of the entree items were easy-prep items: boil the crab legs for several minutes, remove; put clams in steamer rack above pot of boiling water, remove.; put 3 artichokes in steamer for 60 minutes, remove.  The oysters were to be a new one for me, Oyster Rockefeller required ingredients such as spinach and 2 pounds of salt on which to bake the mollusks.  I modified the dish into Oysters "Markafeller", a sauce of minced garlic, butter and melted Romano cheese with some cilantro spooned over the oysters in half-shell and baked for 6 minutes (without the underlying slat bed).  Scallops, my favorite food of all, were in need of full attention as I browned them lightly in a skillet of butter and seasoned with a few sprigs of fresh thyme from our own garden.  I though it all turned out pretty well, even the extra garlic and cilantro I thought was an improvement over the traditional Oysters Rockefeller. 

The table is set for feasting

The Four Advent Candles are lit at the center of the table
and the Christ Candle is lit this Christmas Eve

Mark and the oysters and crab arrive at the feast

Oysters with garlic and cilantro and scallops with thyme
grace the Christmas Eve table

The feast has been prepared!
Come and rejoice!

Three out four aint bad
Christmas Eve without hot dogs

 We welcomed the Christ Child, The Light Who Came Into the World; we gave thanks for all that we have and asked God's blessing upon all who are dear to us but not at our table.  A toast to a very Merry Christmas!