My favorite memory
Dec. 22nd, 2015 06:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
breakinglight11My favorite Christmas memory, possibly my favorite memory of my childhood-- of which I honestly don't have many --was from this one Christmas Eve party my parents threw when I was small. It wasn't from the party itself, but from the preparation during the day preceeding.
I don't remember how old I was, but less than ten years old. We lived in San Jose, California, which is near San Francisco. And I remember my dad and I went all around the city buying the supplies for the party. We went to the fish market on Race Street, crowded with people waving their number tickets, to pick up the seven fishes we needed for the Italian tradition. We went to the butcher shop, where we bought an actual prime rib for the centerpiece of the meal. We went to the wine store, where I thought the shopping carts were oddly child-sized for a place full of adult beverages. And we went to an artisanal chocolate shop, where there was a woman sitting in the window with a sheet of melted chocolate before her, rolling little chocolate candies by hand. Little Phoebe, then obsessed with chocolate, had her eyes bug out of her head at the thought that was somebody's job, and being in awe that she could resist licking her fingers.
That party was amazing. My parents went all out, with the food, the decorations, tons of people. My Mom wore her hair in waves and wore a green velvet dress. Some people remarked at the time that it was the best meal they'd ever eaten. But as fun as the party was, the part that stayed with me the most was that shopping trip, holding my dad's hand, going all over the city to get just the right stuff.
Someday I want to throw a holiday party like that. Where I do that level of decorating and cooking for my loved ones. Where going to all the different specialty shops is part of the celebrating.
Maybe someday with my own kid.
I don't remember how old I was, but less than ten years old. We lived in San Jose, California, which is near San Francisco. And I remember my dad and I went all around the city buying the supplies for the party. We went to the fish market on Race Street, crowded with people waving their number tickets, to pick up the seven fishes we needed for the Italian tradition. We went to the butcher shop, where we bought an actual prime rib for the centerpiece of the meal. We went to the wine store, where I thought the shopping carts were oddly child-sized for a place full of adult beverages. And we went to an artisanal chocolate shop, where there was a woman sitting in the window with a sheet of melted chocolate before her, rolling little chocolate candies by hand. Little Phoebe, then obsessed with chocolate, had her eyes bug out of her head at the thought that was somebody's job, and being in awe that she could resist licking her fingers.
That party was amazing. My parents went all out, with the food, the decorations, tons of people. My Mom wore her hair in waves and wore a green velvet dress. Some people remarked at the time that it was the best meal they'd ever eaten. But as fun as the party was, the part that stayed with me the most was that shopping trip, holding my dad's hand, going all over the city to get just the right stuff.
Someday I want to throw a holiday party like that. Where I do that level of decorating and cooking for my loved ones. Where going to all the different specialty shops is part of the celebrating.
Maybe someday with my own kid.
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no subject
Date: 2015-12-23 03:32 pm (UTC)Better still, when you do get to that level of holiday party yourself, send an invite my way. *grin*
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Date: 2015-12-24 02:44 am (UTC)And yes. A thousand times yes.