The invasion of the in-laws will peak around noon today at our house, when about 15 of us will encounter enough food for two bowl-bound football teams. The ham, turkey, dressing, greens, ambrosia, sweet potato casserole, etc. will be abundant.
In addition, the Long Family of Southwest Georgia has a tradition of dedicating some large, flat surface as the “goody table.”
It will provide between-meal offerings of roasted pecans (that “PEE-cans” in South Ga., and “pa-kahns” for North Georgians like me), chocolate-covered peanuts (pronounced the same statewide), butterscotch fudge, Chex mix (my mother’s recipe which she called “nuts and bolts”), dipped pretzels, a Chocolate layer cake courtesy of the Halls and much, much more.
(An actual photo would have been posted but I couldn’t get my brother-in-law, Scott, away from the peanut brittle long enough for a clear snapshot.)
Throughout the day, as we gather around the dinner table and each time I pass the goody table, my hope is the words of a restaurant manager I worked for in high school will ring through my head: “Portion control! Portion control!”
Regardless of my willpower, it will be good to be with those who have become my family — through marriage and offspring — over the past quarter century.
I’ll also remember with appreciation my family of origin, especially my father who on this date 80 years ago was born in a simple farm house near Rock Spring, Ga. He will mark this milestone in the presence of the One our celebrations of the season are really all about.
Director of the Jesus Worldview Initiative at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee and former executive editor and publisher at Good Faith Media.
