One of my favorite family tradition is Christmas Eve 'Snack Night'. It began when my kids and I still lived on the farm in Baileys Harbor which feels like a million years ago. I wanted to do something fun for me, the only adult in the house, but it also had to fit the tastes of my four kidlets. Not easy, as you can imagine. We ended up creating Snack Night. I bought the favorite snacks of each person. Luckily for me, they liked good cheese and cut up veggies, so at least it would be 'balanced'. My son loves all things pickled, so there were pickled baby corn and Milwaukee's Kosher Dill pickles. No one wanted smoked oysters which I liked but I couldn't eat the whole tin so that was out. one daughter is an artichoke hearts in a can, so I'd buy two. I made sure that their fave crackers were there with dip and I'd spring for sparkling cider. Every one had desert suggestions which rounded out dinner. It is NOT any easier to pull together Snack Night. 

It would take a trip to the Pig in Sister Bay and to my local grocery Harbor Market in Baileys and then Egg Harbor's Main Street often had something new for me. By the time I laid out dinner our table was packed, so of course, we ate in the living room with a movie on the VCR. So 'Snack Night' was a big deal and efficient: The left-overs were used as a mini 'Snack Night' New Year's Eve so nothing was wasted. That tradition continues today so that when any or all of the 'kidlets' come home for the holidays they come home to a piece of their past, too. And to think this came about because I didn't want the usual holiday fare. Then there's Christmas dinner, but that's another story.