the others
My last name is relatively rare in the world of Mc’s. (It actually means “son of the black hearted” in Irish. Sounds like me, right?)
So somehow my sister got included on an email discussion about another family’s upcoming Christmas that included an email address of a [sharedfirstinitial][sharedlastname]@gmail.com.
She asked to be removed from the list, but they’ve kept her on, and she’s been sharing some of the drama of planning with me. Thus far, Jane, the originator of the discussion, is being super bossy about who should bring what (BAKED dinner rolls. 5 bottles of wine. Any dishes must be brought WARM and with a lid ON to avoid oven congestion.)
There’s some passive agressive resistance to Jane’s efforts. Kim, Jane’s daughter, says, “I can bring 3 appetizers and I will leave it a surprise what I am bringing.”
SURPRISE! I feel like Kim might have some other surprises in store?
Personally, I’d like to chime in as well. There are going to be 40 people at this thing, and I don’t think 5 bottles of wine is nearly enough. I’m also vaguely aghast that on the list of menu items one can sign up for is: jello, deviled eggs, pop for the kids, and “hot vegetable” (wild card! Oh wait, someone’s bringing “cheesy broccoli”).
Don’t get me wrong: I love ’50s-style American food - especially at Thanksgiving - but this menu is all over the map. I mean, speaking of Thanksgiving, they’re having turkey and stuffing (I guess that could be in some kind of English tradition) but also ham and PASTA and mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes.
I have to stop thinking about their Christmas planning email chain. It’s all I can do to jump in and tell Jane that if she’s not going to make anything for dinner (I mean, what is she making? Apparently nothing; all of the aforementioned items are items you can sign up to bring) why is she bothering to host? Next year we’ll have it here and everyone needs to bring at least a bottle of wine, and I’ll surely bake the dinner rolls myself in advance to avoid oven congestion.
