looked like it was a replica of the Titanic or something. As I walked over to it, I smiled. It had been decorated beautifully. I wondered how long my grandma had spent working on it.
“Grandma, the boat looks beautiful.”
“Evcharisto poli,” she said, which was thank you in Greek. She beamed with pride, then looked over to my grandfather. “I told you she would like it. I told you Gemma very proud of her Greek heritage.” Then my grandfather looked over at me and grinned, and I knew that they’d probably had some sort of argument over whether or not my grandma should spend so much time decorating the boat. My grandfather thought she spent way too much money on the decorations she used and too much time. Time that she could be spending cooking him his favorite desserts. But I didn’t say anything. I knew that he just wanted to make my grandma happy. And as much as they argued, they loved each other very much.
“So what are we eating today?” I said as if it were going to be something different to what we had every other year.
“Well, we will have some moussaka, dolmades,” my grandma said. “And then I made the ham.”
“Ham?”
“Well, I make a roast pork, you know? But some people like to call it ham.”
“Okay.” I didn’t bother correcting her.
“And then we have some cabbage leaves, your favorite.”
“I wouldn’t say that it’s my favorite, but yummy.”
“And then we have Christopsomo bread and Kourabiethes cookies.”
“Oh yummy.” I loved the honey cookies and sugarcoated butter cookies that were popular Christmas desserts in Greece. The cookies were made from oil, honey, oranges and nuts and were absolutely delicious. And the only time we ever had them was at Christmas, which I was glad about because if we had them every time we got together, I’d definitely be about four hundred pounds.
“So Gemma, are you going to tell me anything more about this young man that you’re seeing?” My grandma walked over to me and peered into my face. “You look like you’re glowing, so I think he’s a very nice man. I would like to meet him.”
“Well, Grandma, I’ll see, I’m going to meet him this evening. He’s preparing a special meal for me, which I told you about, which is why I have to leave slightly earlier than normal.”
“I know. I not like it. You spend Christmas with your family. Yes, I understand you want to see your not real boyfriend, but if you really like him, you should bring him to the family and we make sure he’s a good boy. If he no good boy, you no see him, yes?”
“Yes, Grandma, but it’s a bit too early for me to be bringing him around this craziness.” I looked around the room. Two of my little cousins were chasing each other with cars in their hands and my other little cousin was sitting on the ground, eating cheesecake. I don’t know where she got the cheesecake from, but in front of her on the ground was a big cheesecake pie and no one was saying anything to her. My mother was back in the kitchen most probably making some food. My father and grandfather were in the corner watching TV and all my uncles were sitting there with them talking about something I didn’t want to know about. My aunts were in the kitchen helping my mother and I was here with my grandma.
“Grandma, there’s just no way I’d bring Lucas into this right now.”
“Well, you know, before it gets serious, I would like to meet him. I have to make sure he’s good enough for you.”
“I know, Grandma and if it looks like it’s going to get serious, I’ll let you meet him, okay?”
“Okay, Gemma, I trust you. My beautiful granddaughter. Now, shall we go to the kitchen and help your mother?”
“Okay,” I said and headed toward the kitchen, grateful for a reprieve. As we walked into the kitchen, the wonderful aroma of different foods made my mouth water. I was hungry and I needed something to eat.
“What can I eat right now? I don’t think I can wait until lunch,” I said to my mom, as she looked up at me.
“Oh, you didn’t have breakfast before you got here Gemma?”
“No, I was already running late so I didn’t think I should stop to eat,” I shrugged.
“Okay, let me make you some bacon and eggs, yeah?” She said with a smile. “And then you can go