Monday Rant: All About the Louche

When I normally write my blog posts for Mondays, I usually find something that irks me and I typically whine about it. This week I'll save you the pain because my family will be dealing with enough of that from me this evening.

As you most likely know, today is Christmas Eve. For me, today is pretty much Christmas Day in terms of exchanging gifts with family and celebrating. It's also one of the few meals of the calendar year in which I rarely participate.

My grandmother concocts a multiple-course ethnic meal, as we are of Slovak decent. We have mushroom and egg drop soup, dough balls with both kraut and poppy seed along with lekvar (prune filled) pierogi. To make a long story short, I don't touch a thing until the ham is served.

One great thing about our Christmas gathering is the assortment of adult beverages we enjoy. There's plenty of beer as my uncle always purchases a sampler case. One thing we also enjoy is something I don't write much about on this blog and that is liquor.

The highlight of the evening is rarely the food or the beer, but the Absinthe fountain which makes it's lone appearance of the year each Christmas Eve. The way my father parades this apparatus out, you'd think you were at some kind of mass or religious service. Don't worry. No attempts to emulate Vincent Van Gogh take place.

We certainly enjoy our holiday. Here's to hoping you also enjoy yours just as much. See you on Wednesday!