Everybody loves Christmas time, and looks forward to cutting into the Christmas ham. Hopefully, no one's Christmas dinner will turn into National Lampoon Christmas Vacation 2.0, but every Christmas tradition is different. You may dread getting banned to the kids table or having to fight your way to the front of the food line or spend it with just one other person. Here is how I have spent my last 18 Christmas' in the South!
1. Sweet Tea
No meal is complete without a pitcher of homemade Sweet Tea. Typical, Southern Sweet Tea is a dentist's worst nightmare consisting of 1/4 tea and 3/4 sugar.
2. Everyone is welcomed
You never know who is going to be there, until you show up. There is always someone new your Grandma has invited. Regardless, of if you are family or not, there is always room for more.
3. "Grab It and Growl"
Heck with a fancy table setting and a gravy boat! Whatever the food is cooked in, is what the food is served in. So just "Grab It and Growl!"
4. Butter, Butter, and More Butter
Butter is a food group. You can put it on your rolls, potatoes, vegetables, and sometimes I put butter on my butter. No table in the South is complete without a stick of butter!
5. Cool Whip Tubs, Mayo Jars, and Sandwich Meat Containers
No southern lady owns actual tupperware. Their tupperware collection is composed of reused butter tubs, mayonnaise jars, and Cool Whip tubs. You never actually know what's in the tub until you open it.
6. Paper Plates and Plastic Utensils
No need for salad forks and glass plates! Paper plates and plastic utensils are the way to go when feeding a lot of people, and eliminates doing the dishes.
7. Pies, Cookies, and Cakes - Oh My!
When they say save room for dessert, they mean it! Each Aunt is sure to bring a different dessert and you better be ready to try each one!
8. Fried Oysters
To Northerners, having oysters at Christmas dinner sounds absurd; however, no dinner is complete without them in the South. It is the signature trademark of every Christmas dinner and they wouldn't be oysters, unless you fried them!
9. Grace
Before every meal, everyone bows their heads and says Grace. This is a custom that many people have abandoned, but not in the South.
10. Merry Christmas
In the South, we say "Merry Christmas" not "Happy Holidays."
Whether you are above the Mason Dixon line or below it, however your family celebrates Christmas is special and unique. So pull up a chair and dig in! And of course have a Merry Christmas!
