The Christmas dinner that grew

We tend to play things by ear during the holidays these days. Gift-giving is at a minimum: Grandkids get some spending money, and that's the extent of it.

Well, and Cliff gave me a substantial handful of cash to use however I see fit. I've spent part of that on a tuneup for my desktop PC, and the rest will go to pay a man to get my grandma's 100-year-old music box playing again. Believe me, that ain't cheap.

My oldest two grandchildren were here last weekend, and Amber said, "Grandma, are you cooking for Christmas?"

"I don't know," I answered. "I don't even know if anybody will be here."

"Would you cook some noodles?"

"Well, I suppose I could; do you plan to be here?"

Amber is as picky as anybody you've ever seen. I think there are, at most, four items I can cook that she'll eat... five, counting pancakes. But she is my granddaughter, and this is the Christmas season. So I figured Christmas dinner would be noodles. Oh, and mashed potatoes, because we put our noodles on top of mashed potatoes around here.

I've been hankering for "Buck Buchanan sweet potato pie", too. So Christmas is an excuse to make that. Amber won't eat any, but the rest of us will.

Daughter emailed a couple days ago and asked what we were doing Christmas day; I told her my plans for dinner.

"I'm cooking a roast," she said. "What if we bring it over there to cook it?"

Fine with me. Rachel had been planning to cook potatoes and carrots with the roast, but since I was having mashed potatoes, she nixed that idea. And suggested I make glazed carrots as a side dish.

That's one of the more simple vegetable dishes I know, so no problem there.

Yesterday it occurred to me that no Christmas dinner would be complete without hot home-made rolls, so I added that to the menu.

I think we'll be eating pretty good tomorrow. The chicken is cooked and deboned for the noodles, and two Buck Buchanan sweet potato pies are already made. It's a recipe I got years ago from the Kansas City Star.

BUCK BUCHANAN'S SWEET POTATO PIE

1 1/2 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup butter,melted
1 1/3 cup sugar
3 T. Flour
2 large eggs
2/3 cup egg nog
1 Tablespoon whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 tsp. lemon extract (optional)
preheat oven to 375. Peel, cook and mash sweet potatoes, measure out 1 1/2 cups. Mix with remaining ingredients and
pour into pie shell, bake 45 minutes till knife inserted midway between the center and rim comes out clean.
for additional flavor interest, experiment with other extracts, coconut, orange or pineapple extract for lemon extract.

The Cool Whip is thawed and in the fridge, waiting.