Oyster Dressing and Other Christmas Memories

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped onion
3 cups chopped celery
1 cup butter or margarine
1 pint oysters in liquid, drained & chopped (reserve liquid)
4 cups herb-seasoned stuffing cubes
4 cups cornbread crumbs
1 cup pecans, chopped
3 teaspoons sage
1 1/2 teaspoons thyme
salt and pepper, to taste
3 cans chicken broth or homemade

Preparation: Saute onion and celery in butter or margarine. Mix all ingredients together well and pour in a buttered baking dish. Cover with foil; bake at 325° for 35 to 45 minutes. Remove foil and brown.

Oyster dressing is a Chadwell Christmas Family Tradition. The recipe posted above is the one I'm using this year....

I remember back when I was a little boy that we would pack up the family and drive to Refugio, Texas to my grandmother's house each Christmas. Grandma was an excellent cook. One of my favorite dishes she would make was Oyster dressing... My mom also made some good batches of Oyster dressing in her day. And my sis, also.

Currently, I am the only one in my house who appreciates the culinary delight of oyster dressing. So tonight I have made two pans of dressing, one with oysters and one without...

Some other fond Christmas memories include enjoying Grandma's fireplace on cold days and nights. (we never had a fireplace growing up) I also remember my brother an I trying to play grandma's piano.

Back home in Bay City I remember we used to always try to go to midnight mass on Christmas eve. I also remember for the longest time we had a silver artificial Christmas tree with a color wheel. I cried when mom threw it away one year, saying it was too old and worn out...

After Grandma passed away Christmas didn't seem to be as special as it used to be.

Now that I'm married and with children, Christmas is a magical time again. I love how Elijah and Connor get so excited. I love preparing the food. Monica and I love making great memories for our children. (She grew up as a Jehovah's Witness and did not get to enjoy a traditional Christmas as a child, herself.)

So as I close this post it's 10 PM here in Texas... Only a couple of hours until Christmas... Monica's working on a Christmas project in the garage and Connor and I are watching Star Trek on Sci-Fi.