Sunday Dinner, December 27, 2009

Well, hello everyone! I trust that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and survived to tell the tale. Lamar and I went to Jessica's for Christmas morning to open gifts with her and Emmy, along with my sisters Cecil and Ducky. Lamar's Mom was also there.

A good time was had by all and we enjoyed a simple Christmas lunch of fried ham sandwiches and Jessica also roasted a turkey and made my Mama's homemade cheesecake for dessert.

There was still plenty of ham left on the bone, so I brought it home and sliced most of it to put in the freezer for sandwiches at a later time.

I'm cooking the ham bone and some of the smaller chunks of ham in a pot of white beans for our Sunday Dinner, very similar to those in the pic to the right. I'll probably make some cornbread to go with the beans and as of right this minute, I have no idea what else I may cook. It may just end up being beans and ham and cornbread.

After all the rich holiday foods, party snacks and candy, I'm craving REAL food. All that fancy stuff is a treat now and then, but it gets old fast and now I want simple, hearty Southern cookin', just like I grew up eating and still cook most of the time.

What's for Sunday Dinner at your place? Or are you still Christmas party-ing? Share your plans in the comments if you'd like.Not much happening around here. All our Christmas activities are behind us and now New Year's is less than a week away. Lamar and I usually spend New Year's Eve at home and it looks like the tradition will continue this year.

We've been invited to my nephew Danny's & Mikki's house for New Year's Day. They're serving a traditional Southern New Year's menu: blackeyed peas cooked with hog jowl bacon, greens and cornbread. Sounds good to me.

For the uninformed, some Southerners wouldn't dream of ushering in the New Year without the traditional New Year's menu.

The blackeyed peas symbolize coins for wealth, the greens symbolize green paper folding money, and the hog jowl symbolizes prosperity because in the past only wealthier people could afford to have meat for their New Year's meal.

If the cornbread symbolizes anything I'm not aware of it. I suspect it just tastes good with peas and greens.

Nowadays it's more of a tradition than a superstition, but many still cling to the old ways and really think it's bad luck not to have peas, hog jowl and greens for New Year's. I like it any day of the year. ;o)I took lots of pictures of Emmy and the rest opening their Christmas gifts, but my camera is in my purse in the living room and I'm here at the computer in the spare room, so I'll try to get those downloaded and share some pics next time I post. Jessica and Jason's divorce should be final in the middle of January and they seem to be doing well with dividing Emmy's time with each of them and making sure Emmy doesn't suffer because they can't get along.

This divorce is not what any of us wanted, but we're all doing the best we can to put Emmy first and make sure her happiness is our main priority.

Thank you all again for your prayers and kind thoughts for Jessica, Jason and Emmy, dear friends.

I still need to study my Sunday School lesson and also check on my beans and ham, so I'll close by wishing you all a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year. May 2010 be the best year we've ever experienced.

May God bless you with all you need and enough to share, dear family and friends.