Best Christmas ever

It could've been worse. Really?! It could've been a catastrophe.

We held Christmas dinner for my family (a dozen of us this year). Food bought, house cleaned, good part of food prep done the day before Christmas, table set. An almost 25 pound turkey. Dinner scheduled for 2 p.m. So that means turkey needs to go in the oven around 5 a.m.

Alarm set for 4:45 a.m. I get up and stumble to the kitchen to turn the oven on then continue to the basement fridge to pull the turkey out and prep it for the roasting pan. Come upstairs and... notice "light" coming from the oven. Hmmmm, still in a bit of a fog but I register that's just not right. Put turkey on counter, open oven and... kinda flame/sparks and sizzling coming from the bottom element which lies in pieces on the bottom of the oven floor.

Are you kidding me?!

Breathe. Walk upstairs to wake hubby and say "Honey, Merry Christmas... can you come and help me with the BBQ 'cause the oven is broken". He wakes up fast (always does anyway, but I think he realized I WASN'T kidding). Outside into the snowy morning he goes to pull the BBQ closer to the stairs, take out the racks and get it lit. Then a lightbulb moment. We can't call anyone at 5 in the morning. It's an emergency but it's not a death or illness so we don't want to freak anyone out... hmmm, his Mom is out for the day and we have keys. Off goes the BBQ... for now... we'll need it later for the stuffing and pies, and we hurriedly get dressed and load the turkey in the car and take off into the cold, snowy morning. All is well, we're in a good frame of mind and figure we'll just "run with it" and do what we can. Hey... it'll make a good story... someday, lol. We set the turkey to cooking in his mom's oven and go back two more times to check on it (at least a 40 minute plus round trip [not including the time spent there] each time. And the steadily falling wet and heavy snow along with the wind makes the driving steadily worse each trip - we pass more than a few cars in the ditch). Need to make sure it's cooking, pour off the drippings so they don't overflow the pan and get back to our place to get the rest of the meal cooking. Our last trip was 1'ish to pick up the turkey and bring it home. Kinda like meals on wheels, lol.

My best friend calls around 9 to wish us a Merry Christmas. We chat and of course share our fun/predicament. They have two portable roasting "ovens". Yahoo. Of course we won't say no. She's saved the day. We probably could've managed with the stove top, BBQ and microwave but this is even better. And she delivers, lol!

Dinner was just about perfect as was the company. My hubby spoiled me rotten (as usual) and was there by my side sharing all the load (mental and physical). The extra "spice" of having an oven break at a totally inopportune moment just made for an interesting day and table conversation. This will be the Christmas to remember and it was actually the "bestest" for me as I was home and believe-it-or-not relaxed and enjoying.

30 years and our first Christmas at home. But you know what? We still haven't cooked a turkey for Christmas dinner at home! So... we HAVE to do it again next year at the very least.

And me? Well, I'm going to kick back and relax with my brand new Keurig coffeemaker (WOOHOO! as the guy in the commercial exclaims) and my new scrapbooking dies and puzzles and magazines and... yes, I am spoiled and loved. It was a good day.

~Shelley