My mother used to make Lasagna like nobody’s business, and she wasn’t even Italian. She introduced this delicacy to our family and it was a hit from the very beginning. My mother has been gone since 1991, but her lasagna legacy lives on in my family in Buffalo, in a rather strange Christmas tradition.
I’ve heard of serving a lot of different things for Christmas eve and Christmas dinner: Turkey, chicken, duck, Turduckin (a yummy Cajun combo of all 3), goose, ham and roast beef, and from my younger days a Christmas pizza and Chinese takeout. So there’s a gamut of things that people eat during the holidays, including a glut of Christmas cookies — (oh, I must’ve gained 5 lbs from cookies alone this year, back to the gym for me!) but lasagna? When did they start eating lasagna for Christmas?
For the last 2 years I have headed north to visit my cousins in Buffalo, and each year, for either Christmas eve or Christmas day dinner, we have had lasagna as the main course. And this is in predominantly Irish households. So where did this tradition come from? I don’t know, and they’re not talking, except to say, “Its what we do.”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m really not complaining about it, and it was nice to taste Mom’s recipe again! But really, Lasagna for Christmas??? It’s good, but it still seems strange!
