Thursday, December 17, 2009
A Christmas Dinner I Wish I Could Forget
Recipes are the theme for today, but I don't really have any to share since I'm at work and they're at home.
But I do have a food-related story for you anyway.
It was the Christmas of 1993.
My mom's brother in Virginia called to invite us to meet them in Las Vegas. He and his wife were celebrating 20 years or so of marriage and wanted to renew their vows in the Romance Capitol of...well, anyway, they decided to renew their vows in a small ceremony at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino on the Strip.
My mom really didn't want to go. We didn't have extra money for stuff like a Vegas hotel room during the holidays. My other uncle couldn't afford it either. But, my grandparents begged my mom to make the trip, so off we went.
We stayed in a room next door to Grandma and Grandpa at the Comfort Inn while the renewlyweds and my cousins stayed in a fancy room at the Excalibur.
(And by "fancy" I mean "there was enough room to walk around both beds." There was also a couch.)
The service was on Christmas Eve in a chapel big enough to hold 200+ guests. There were 13 of us when Uncle #2 and his wife and two kids finally showed up, late.)
After vows were renewed, we had a fancy Prime Rib dinner in some restaurant in the hotel.
(And by "fancy" I mean "none of us ended up getting food poisoning.")
That was Christmas Eve.
We roamed the streets of Vegas for a couple of hours before finally trudging off to our hotel.
(Which was not a great place to be staying. But, it could have been worse.)
Christmas morning found us back in the "fancy" room at the Excalibur. I remember gathering for a family photo. I honestly couldn't tell you if gifts were exchanged or not. I know my mom was smart and left most of our stuff at home so that we wouldn't have to lug around a bunch of things we couldn't use until we were back in our own house anyway.
And then it was time for Christmas dinner.
Since my aunt and uncle had planned the trip, we had
Not so much, no.
There we were. Christmas day. No reservations anywhere. A party of 13.
Our group wandered down the road to Caesar's Palace, because my aunt just LOVES Caesar's Palace, and they have a mall. Which must have lots of great options, right?
Well, they do. I'm not sure what they had back in 1992, but today they've got Spago, some Italian place, a steakhouse or two and even a Cheesecake Factory.
We waited in the hotel lobby while my uncles took off to see what they could find. I sat and listened to my 14-year-old cousin talk about alcoholic binges while my mom tried to avoid conversation with my aunts by pretending to be deeply interested in her shoelace. I think my brother fell asleep.
The Uncles returned and announced they had found a great place to dine. A place that had seats available and could take us right away.
And that's how we ended up eating Christmas dinner at a Mexican takeout restaurant in a mall food court in the middle of Las Vegas.
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"You know what they say. If you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me."
~Clairee Belcher, Steel Magnolias