Where’s the Dressing?

The smell of turkey and ham hovered through our house.  For most this is an appetizing smell but for me, I’m not a huge fan of meat especially ham and I was ready to head to my Grammy Ann’s to get out of the wafting meat paradise I found myself in.  We loaded the car, closed the garage, secured the eggnog. looked at my phone to find a text from Grammy Ann.

“Did you make gravy?” 

“Did I make gravy?” I whispered to myself. Benjamin questioned.  I looked at him. 

I’ll just call her, I hit the call button, and she picked up, “Hi! Did y’all make gravy to go with the mashed potatoes and the dressing?” 

“No,” I said hesitantly, “We didn’t since he smoked the turkey, it will be fine without gravy.  The meat looks really great!”

“Oh no, I’ll figure some gravy out, we have to have it for the mashed potatoes and dressing.” As she problem solved, I found myself thinking the dressing must look amazing. Grammy can do anything in the kitchen with nothing, so the makeshift gravy will be perfect.

“Okay Grammy but really it will be perfect without gravy! We will be there shortly.” I hung up the phone and tried to get lost in the Christmas music. I was hoping for a moment of relief from the hope I seemed to have lost.

We pulled in thirty-two minutes later and unloaded all the goodies.  The house smelled so amazing with all the cake and pie along with the potatoes and deviled eggs, much better than the meat paradise I had long forgotten. Luke cut up all the smoked meat and we gathered around to say a prayer.

“Where’s the dressing Grammy?” A voice rang from the kitchen. She zoomed back into the kitchen.  A few minutes passed and mom and I made our way to the kitchen. I decided to wash my hands at the sink when I bent down. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Grammy was right there, “Where’s the dressing?”  I looked at her, “I don’t know, where did you put it?” She looked at me with a very serious face, “I didn’t put it anywhere when y’all brought it in.” 

I felt my stomach drop, “Um where did we bring it in from?”

“From your jeep, when you got here.” she said, starting to piece this miscommunication together.

My face said it all.

“You did make dressing, didn’t you?” she started to grin.

“You said you had dressing and mashed potatoes on the phone.” I replied back to her now with a sly smile.

“No you said you were making dressing and I said I would throw together gravy.” She threw her arm around my shoulder.

A giggle snuck out of my lips, “Grammy I didn’t make any dressing.”

She frowned with soft snicker filled eyes, “No dressing, dinner is, well” a smirk flashes across her face, “ruined.”  We both laugh and suddenly we have a new joke that should last the rest of the 2020s.

Today is the day we celebrate the birth of our Savior.  Festive meals and  celebrations of Jesus’ birth continue to roll forward and I’m reminded of all that truly matters. As I drive across a serene town a song from Christmas with David Phelps called Tonight! blasts on my stereo telling the story of Light coming to earth!  The Word became flesh and prophecies began to unwind!  What a sight that night must have been!

Holidays are markedly tough in the Ferg household.  Dates are tainted with tears and gut-wrenching loss with sparse memories of true happiness.  I fear I am not alone in that and that many have the same story.  This Christmas though God is restoring the dates and rebranding them with a new mark.   He somehow places little heart tugging moments among the mundane, among the hard.  Reminders of what the season is truly about.  I don’t know if Jesus would like dressing or not. I have a sneaky suspicion He would love my Grammy Ann’s. One thing I do know in the confusion, the giggles, and my forgetfulness He was right there, filled with joy as we celebrated His birth without dressing!  I can just see Him belly laughing as our communication missed back and forth.  I can just see Him hugging two tired hearts as they laughed their way through a hard date.

If you share in the hard, if Christmas and holidays hold tears and pain, you are not alone, and I truly believe Jesus wants to rebrand those dates with newness and laughter.  What an honor to laugh as we celebrated His birthday by messing up His birthday meal!

So, as the evening progressed, there it was, I was convinced she had told me she was doing the dressing, and she was convinced I was making the dressing.  When all at once the realization hit me and laughter erupted from my lips, “Benjamin, we were in charge of the dressing. I was going to do it in our iron skillet, remember?”  and Grammy Ann laughed, and Benjamin shook his head with a grin…

AND I am forever out of hosting Christmas dinner because no one knew where the dressing was!

Merry Christmas!

Blessings tonight!

Stacy Ferguson