TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE

28. CHRISTMAS PART 2

Once the presents were done, we ladies walked into the kitchen to check on the turkeys and hams. Yep, Fleur has three ovens lucky. She did tell me that they had already basted all the turkeys twice, so it was time for the third basting. Once that was done, we went and hung out with the guys and enjoyed our Christmas presents.

This Christmas was going great. I could not believe how much I enjoyed being surrounded by people. Then again, it depends on the people around you. I need to stop comparing my life now to before. I don't have to worry about catering to people who don't love me or want me around for anything other than being a slave.

I made my way into the kitchen with the rest of the ladies, and we all started to make the sides. I grabbed the bag of potatoes and started peeling them with the help of Jojo, Lace, and Heather. I waited until we had about ten potatoes peeled before I dumped them into a bowl to be washed. After that, I began cutting them and dumping them into a pot. We had peeled, washed, and cut up 20lbs of potatoes.

Fluer set the turkey's up to be browned, and I noticed that Heather's mom had started making the glaze for the hams. We had decided to have one ham with no glaze just in case but have the glaze on the side. I divided the potatoes into three bowls and made one with nondairy milk. The other two used regular milk, but one had cream cheese in it as well. The cranberries were dumped out, one into a bowl, and one onto a plate.

Luckily, the jellied cranberry came out whole, so we just sliced it up. After slicing up the turkey and hams, we set everything on plates and placed them on the table that the grandma's had set. Once everything was done, I pulled out the pitchers of sweet tea I had made the night before and placed them on the table.

The last thing we did was run around, filling all the glasses with ice and making sure the deserts were out and on the buffet tables around the room. We all made sure to sit down before calling the guys in so they all knew where to sit. The funny thing that was next to my chair was Amy's plate. She had insisted on helping me, so I had her help pour in the milk. She also helped hold the mixer I used to mash the potatoes. The good thing was we brought enough mixers, so we didn't have to wait until one of the mashed potato dishes was done.

I had to run back into the kitchen to get the sweet potato casserole that was in the oven to get browned. I had found out Tristan loved sweet potatoes, so I made two huge dishes. I hope they all love them. I did let Amy sprinkle the tops with the tiny marshmallows, and she went to town. Of course, the little devil tried to eat the marshmallows that fell on the counter, but I promised to put them aside for her and David. I reminded her that dinner was just a few minutes away.

Sitting back down between Tristan and Amy was nice. The two spent part of the dinner trying to compete with who loved me more. It was just too much for me. When Tristan saw the sweet potato casserole, he was happy. We all passed the dishes around and were soon enjoying our meal. Mindy mentioned doing something like this again for New Years, and the guys readily agreed. They didn't care if it meant they would have to clean up afterward.

According to the plans we would eat at dinner time so we would not have to put the turkeys in till the morning. After eating our fill, even though the guys were going to do the clean-up, we women put everything away, not trusting them to put things away properly. Good, thing we did because Jean-Luc mentioned why we didn't just wrap everything up in foil and stuff it in the fridge.

Clean-up started after we put everything away, and we all sat back watching the guys clean. At one point, Charles shot my dad with the sprayer from the sink, and we lost our composure. They were not impressed and kicked us out of the kitchen. Luckily, the coffee maker was in the breakfast nook, so we busied ourselves making coffee. I noticed a mini stove in the breakfast nook, so I started making hot cocoa. Everyone loved the idea of a choice of drink to go along with the pie.