Christmas Eve for us this year was a bit of an adventure. Mr. Handsome’s family has a tradition of eating homemade deep dish pizza, and I have tried to keep that tradition going with our little family. I spent the entire morning preparing pizzas so we could cook them for the evening. Deep dish pizza is a little tricky to make and very labor intensive. We then went to Christmas Eve service at Church, thinking we would be out in plenty of time to put the pizzas in the oven.
The pastor decided to dial up a hard hitting Christmas message, complete with an altar call at the end. It was wonderful to see people coming forward to commit their lives to Jesus. But by the time it was all said and done, the service was about 30 minutes longer than expected.
We rushed home and put the pizzas in the oven. By now, the kids were whining and complaining because they were starving, so we gave them a snack. After cooking the pizza for the amount of time indicated in the recipe, we took it out and let it cool for 15 minutes. We all sat down for dinner, only to realize that the middle of the pizza was still completely raw.
Deep dish pizza is about two inches thick and is more like pie than a pizza. It is a bit of a challenge to cook thoroughly without burning the crust. We turned the oven back on and put the pizzas back in. Finally about 30 minutes later, the pizza was ready to eat.
Little Buddy took one bite, spit it out, and said “Spicy, spicy, spicy! I can’t eat it.” He used to like pepperoni and sausage but has apparently decided that it’s too spicy. We tried to take the meat off, but it was challenging because the toppings were baked into the center of the pizza. I had made a Hawaiian pizza for myself, but it wasn’t fully cooked yet.
Littlest Buddy, who doesn’t mind sausage or pepperoni, had also decided that he didn’t like the deep dish pizza, probably because it looked different than the pizza he was accustomed to. Out of desperation, I pulled some frozen chicken nuggets and vegetables out of the freezer and microwaved it for the kids. So much for spending the whole day cooking a delicious meal for the family.
After the kids wolfed down their food, it was past bedtime, so we decided to wave the white flag and call it a night. We did their bedtime routine and then sat down to eat our pizza at 8:30. It was a little dried out, but after waiting so long, it tasted great.
I can relate to undercooked pizza chaos! Thats awesome your church had people come forward to receive Christ.
I want to wish and a very Happy New Year!
Btw, now I want my favorite pizza Hawaiian lol. But we have left over split pea soup a friend made and clam chowder I made on Thursday so that’s our dinner for tonight.
That sounds like something that would happen to us 😂 The pizza sounds good! My dad traveled to Chicago a long row ago and ate a deep dish pizza somewhere. He talked about it so much, I looked it up online and they ship their pizzas so I’ve gotten him several over the years for Christmas. It’s fun to get a pizza in the mail lol.
Ha ha funny story! Thank you for sharing. I enjoy your blog!
In our house, when I was a child, the traditional Christmas eve supper was chili.
(Some people might just imagine we had a windy Christmas morning, but actually that was never ever even mentioned as a problem.)
Later in the evening our “dessert” was a family gathering in the living room with a dainty tray that had Christmas dainties my Grandma always brought, that she’d prepared. There was also Christmas oranges and egg nog. Back in the day mom put real rum in the egg nog and we all drank it regardless of age. The Christmas story was read and Dad read the “night before Christmas”. That was the ideal, but every year did not match the ideal.
I remember one year on Christmas morning us children rushed into the living room to find only a paper cheque for each of us attached like ornaments on the tree. The night before is gone from my memory. I guess it was nothing just bedtime.
“HNY!”
This is so relatable .. and a reason I struggle to enjoy cooking. I spend so much time and effort for it really not to be enjoyed. Little children and their ever changing preferences can be a challenge! All the best in 2024 and with your little one on the way.
That’s….pretty inconsiderate of the pastor to be honest. If you don’t do the altar call, you’re judged, if you do, you’re messing with the kids. I don’t like that at all. Pastors should be clear at the beginning of the service that they intend to do something different. Don’t hold your congregation hostage, that’s ego talking, not religion.
People are always welcome to leave. 🙂 We can come and go freely.
Your Christmas Eve experience sounds like one that you will someday look back on and laugh about. When my kids were around 5 or 6 or so, we were baking cookies on Christmas Eve. Shortly after we put them in the oven to bake, the oven started smoking and the kitchen stunk. We realized that one of them accidentally set the oven on Clean. The cookies and baking sheets were totally burned. A few years later my son had to write about his favorite Christmas memory for school, and he wrote about our cookie-baking fiasco.
Oh my! You’re right, those kinds memories are fun to look back on.