12 Fish

I'm half Irish and half Italian. The Irish side is responsible for my last name, my hair, and a recessive gene for alcoholism and depression. But the last ancestor from the old sod stepped off Ellis Island so long ago, that we have no Irish family traditions. The only Gaelic I know is a curse. Singing "Fairytale of New York" in the Dublin House on 79th Street is as close to Irish as I get. (Thanks, Kieran, for the link.)

The Italian side dominates our holidays. My mom is Italian. Her father was raised in Abruzzi before emigrating to Canada and America.

For Italians, it's all about Christmas Eve. We get dressed up in our best clothes. The cousins fly in from Florida. There's a sickening mound of presents that are unwrapped that night.

And then there's the food. We have 12 types of fishes in honor of the twelve disciples. My grandfather took food very seriously. He was the maitre d' of the Waldorf in the 50s. After he died, the second generation stopped doing it all. Now the grandchildren have taken it up as a mission to see if we can make 12 different kinds of fish appetizers. Salmon spread. Crab cake. Tapenade. Lobster tail. Shrimp cocktail. ... We like a challenge. Mom makes a tuna and olive mariana sauce also, just in case anybody is still hungry.

It's all about excess, joy, and style.

I'm taking the rest of the week off. The flu has reared its ugly face. There's a cousins dinner tomorrow. On Thursday, we're taking the kids on the train into the city for a party at Steve's work and for viewing the city splendor. On Friday, I'll be making fish cakes and smoked salmon dip. Too much going on to feed the blog this week.

I hope you all have a joyous holiday. For my non-Christian friends, enjoy the empty theaters. I'll be back next week.

Comments

[mc]

Laura, you guessed right a few posts back -- I am indeed a paisan. In fact, our ethnic backgrounds are exactly the same (though, technically, more than either Irish or Italian I'm western European mutt). One of the interesting things to me has been how much my sister and I identify as Italian -- obnoxiously so, for pale-skinned, third generation Mitigans -- and how little we discuss the Irish side. We joke that it's because the Italians have better food, but they're also more voluble, more welcoming and frankly more entertaining.

I'm missing the big Christmas Eve blowout in NJ this year to spend it in New England with my Irish in-laws. It just won't be the same, but this year's realization is that just because the in-laws don't do it my way doesn't mean they're wrong... much. And besides, on the 26th we'll travel to Jersey with the knowledge that pasta with Sunday gravy, meatballs, sausage and braciole is waiting for us.

In any case, warm wishes to you and yours. And thanks for the chance to monopolize your comments ;)

[JennyD]

I've warmed the bar at the Dublin House more than few times. I love the portrait of the fishes on Christmas Eve. Thanks.

[Michael_the_Archangel]

Although my family isn't Italian, a couple of my aunts married Italian men (on my mother's side). My mother's family was large, nine children and most of them had kids (small family of one kid to largest family with seven) - while my grandmother was alive we would have 'family' get-togethers over at her house on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas. Between 50 - 75 people every time, it was heaven. Sadly, after my Grandmother died, the tradition seems to have died with her. We now have my immediate family get togethers, the three of us kids, our families and some of them have now grown and married so the get-togethers are growing. This last Thanksgiving we had 25 people, onwards towards the 50+.