Hi Everyone,
Are you stressing about the upcoming Christmas meal? Trying to determine what to make? Fretting about how you are going to top last year’s meal? Well, here is a refreshing perspective I heard earlier in the week from a Barbadian: “Don’t stress about the Christmas meal, it’s really only Sunday lunch with ham”. You know, in very many ways, it is. Think about it.
What is Sunday lunch? It is a meal comprising multiple dishes such as roast meats, stews, starches, vegetables and salads. There is always dessert, even if it’s only ice cream. Sunday lunch is a gathering of family members ad friends too, including those visiting from overseas, with everyone partaking in a sumptuous meal. Within a Bajan context, all Sunday lunch dishes appear on the Christmas table – baked pork, baked chicken, baked turkey, stewed lamb, and or stewed beef, fried fish, rice and peas, sweet potato pie, macaroni pie, potato salad, coleslaw and tossed salad. With all of this, you add ham and the Christmas meal is complete. If we are to think of the Christmas meal in this way – as Sunday lunch – I really believe that we can take some of the unnecessary pressure off of ourselves.