Nothing ready
Have you any Christmas “Fails” you hate to be reminded of? Dinner was late, the turkey was still frozen, Uncle John passed out at the table? Here are some of my Christmas “fail” memories and the reason this web site was started: expanding on a book I kept for a few years to remind me of what needs to be done to avoid getting stressed out by Christmas.
Once A Year
Christmas comes only once a year. “Thank goodness”, say some but maybe that’s because it can be hard to remember everything that needs to be done when there is a year between each occasion. It arrives on December 25th every year but when you are up to your oxters dealing with the alligators in a swamp you planned on draining, it can be easy to put off doing those things that will make “doing Christmas” easy, well, easier.
The Oven Broke
There was the year the oven would not cook. Now to be fair to the oven, it had been giving signs of a problem for a couple of months but the problem was only intermittent and my husband, who is “careful” with money thought the problem could wait, after all, we mostly used the top of the stove. Of course, while the turkey was only half cooked, the oven decided to go on the blink. We had to lift the turkey out, take it to our son’s house, finish cooking it there and bring it back, roasting hot! The guests had been warned of problems but decided to delay arriving at our house longer than expected. I had no oven to keep food warm, so we started eating without them. They were not impressed to arrive in to a meal that was half eaten and their share going cold!
No Christmas Cards
Cards not posted?
Then there was the year I retired from work. My last day was the last working day before the Christmas holidays and I spent my last three months in a golden haze of delight (no not alcoholic, just pure joy) and anticipation. My last working day was also the last posting date for Christmas cards, which naturally did not get posted. I normally send about 80 Christmas cards and only the ones for local neighbors, that get hand delivered, were sent. I sent out UnChristmas cards to my card list in February!
Turn It Off
No dinner
My mother in law held Christmas dinner for a number of years and we went to her house. My father in law was a careful saving man who turned all lights off to save on electricity whenever he could. I think that any switch he saw, he flipped into the “off” position and this habit resulted in my mother in law’s electric oven being turned off in the middle of cooking Christmas dinner. He was not too popular for a while.
Handling The Alcohol
Some relatives are known to imbibe too much of the liquid refreshments anyway and I don’t mean tea, coffee and soda! But most are fairly reasonable unless they are taking something they are not used to. One elderly aunt enjoyed the liqueur chocolates the first year we got them and together with the couple of glasses of sherry she normally took, were enough to need her to be put to bed for the afternoon to sleep it off!
Have You Any Spectacular Fails?
These are just a few of the Christmas fails I have seen or been involved with. Have you any to add?