Crazy Christmas Eve Dinner

The holiday season will soon be upon us. When you see Saint Nick decorations next to cornucopias in the stores, I can't help but think of holiday memories. Each year when we gather around the table we tell stories of holiday past. One of my favorite stories is one that I was not even present for but seems to get retold most holidays.

I'll retell it Sophia Petrillo style...

Picture it. Christmas eve 1972. The women of the family were preparing the seafood dinner. As they prepared the stuffed jumbo shrimp, my grandmother asked my Aunt Dotty about her cat. Aunt Dotty lived alone and was very fond of that cat. Aunt Dotty told a story of how Rags got his tail caught in a mouse trap. Well that tickled my grandmother. She couldn't help but burst out with laughter. That set Aunt Dotty off. Her face was bright red as she shouted at my grandmother to stop it. That made my grandmother laugh even harder. Before they knew it Aunt Dotty grabbed a knife and tried to stab my grandmother. The shrimp were flying. Fortunately my mom could see Aunt Dotty was trying to do and was able to stop her. Aunt Dotty took a long walk and cooled down. She joined them for dinner and no one acknowledged what happened. People ate and laughed like nothing had happened. As my grandmother would say the food was all made, why waste a good meal. I don't think Aunt Dotty really would have hurt grandma anyway. She always was a little dramatic. The only thing that changed after that dinner was Aunt Dotty was called Crazy Aunt Dotty, but never to her face, of course.

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Butterball.