Christmas Eve Seafood 2010

We’ve always trimmed our tree on Christmas Eve. During our first overseas posting in the early 1980s, we started inviting single friends over to help us hang the decorations. Even though we’re settled down in Tucson now, we still invite our single friends over for the tree-trimming party, and of course we wine and dine them for their trouble.

For years now our Christmas Eve spread has consisted of seafood — in fact, it’s become another deMenthe family tradition. This year we kept it simple: boiled shrimp and clam chowder. One of our friends brought over some cheddar cheese biscuits, which went perfectly with the clam chowder.

The clam chowder recipe, originally given to me by my father, is here. My shrimp boil recipe is here.