By Claudia Kwan, award winning broadcaster and writer

I must have gone temporarily mad,
driven to it by the crowds at the airport and the throngs at the mall
and those carols that keep playing playing, playing, playing everywhere.

For somehow or another, I’ve
volunteered to make Christmas Eve dinner by myself for 14 people (which
includes four kids 5 and under), cooking in my tiny tiny condo kitchen.
There’s only room in there for one person at a time for heaven sakes,
and I’m already trying to figure out how I’ll keep everything moving
along with just four burners on the stove and not much more room inside
the oven than for a chicken and a couple of potatoes. I’ll manage
somehow, although I may tear out half my hair in the process.

I do have a back-up plan in case
everything goes kablooey — the high class equivalent of ordering
takeout if you burn the roast. I’m fortunate enough to live in a region
rich with Chinese restaurants, and one of the major benefits — along
with richly varied delicious food — is this fact: Chinese restaurants
are an awesome option for Christmas
dinner, either on the 24th or 25th. They stay open for New Years Day as
well, in contrast to other establishments, who try and save on paying
employees double time by simply shutting down operations.

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