Seven Fishes

My mother’s parents came to America from Naples, Italy in the early 1900’s.  On Christmas Eve we’d gather at my grandparent’s house, or the house of one of my mother’s siblings.

Upon the passing of my grandparents, and as each branch of the family tree spreads, our gatherings have splintered among the growing families.  My sister, Cookie, hosts our family and, as our branch grows, so does our guest list for the meal.

Traditionally, it is a meal of “seven fishes.”  This comes from the Roman Catholic tradition of abstinence on Fridays and specific Holy Days; whereupon no meat or dairy is eaten.  This “feast” is a commemoration of the wait or vigil, Vigilia di Natale, for the midnight birth of baby Jesus.  It is more common in Southern Italy and, since my grandparents came from Naples, they brought the tradition to America.

There are a couple of theories as to the reason for the number seven.  First is that there are seven sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church.  Another is that the number 7 is a sacred number.  Three is traditionally the number for The Divinity and four represents Earth.  Therefore the number 7 represented Divinity on Earth, or Jesus Christ.

Some families serve nine, 11 or 13 seafood dishes on Christmas Eve.  We’re down to four.

My Mom and some linguini

Since butter is a dairy product, the seafood is most traditionally fried in oil.  Our four dishes are fried shrimp, fried calamari and baccalá; a dish of salted cod, poached then served chilled with lemon, olive oil and parsley.  Picture an Italian-style ceviché.  Since pasta is also part of the meal, we begin with Linguini and Clam Sauce.  Being descended from Southern Italy, our sauce is red.  And for our vegetable we serve chilled broccoli with garlic, lemon, olive oil and salt.  Very tasty!

My mother always prepared broccoli this way when I was growing up.  It is steamed (or boiled) then covered and chilled in the fridge with some chopped garlic.  Then drizzled with  lemon, olive oil and salt right before serving.  I was at a friend’s house for dinner when I was about 10-years-old and the meal included broccoli.  Only it was served hot with melted butter.  At first, my little system was shocked.  I actually thought they were kidding!

My brother, Frank, and I fry the seafood.

This year my brother brought his deep fryer to help with the 10 pounds each of shrimp and squid we had to fry.  And he brought a great gadget he got at Bass Pro Shops for easily breading food.  What a great invention and it saved us tons of time!

It consists of three parts: A small plastic “tub,” a plastic grating that sits about half-way up inside the tub, and a lid.  You fill the bottom with your breading ingredients, then put in the grating, your meat or fish to be breaded and close the lid.  You turn it upside down and the flour or breading falls through the grating, onto your meat.  Then you turn it back over and the unstuck breading goes back under the grating, leaving you with breaded meat.  Simple, easy and no mess at all!

My granddaughter, Kaia, helps her great-aunt, Cookie, set the table.

And it was such a beautiful day, we cooked outside!

Dinner is served at 5:00PM (if we’re lucky) and everyone sits on the patio.  Even though we live in Southern California, it can still get cold so my brother-in-law, Duane (or the Big Do, as he’s known) encloses the patio with sheets of plastic and even has a space heater or two which we’ve had to use in the past.

Those children arriving early with the cooks are put to work, too.

How many people can we fit in the kitchen?

Most people begin arriving at around 4:00PM and many are put to work; many assignments have evolved into “traditional” jobs; those who help stir pasta in the pots, those who take count of those who would rather have “butter” noodles instead of clam sauce (I won’t rat them out here), those who help serve, etc.

As we approached 5:00 — OK, really 6:00 — the patio began to fill up and we began the first course of linguini.

Taking places…

This year I had the privilege of dining with some newbies.  As I took my seat, the parents and sister of my nephew, Koby’s, girlfriend, Rachel, were seated across from me.  As they sat, attempting to smile politely, I noticed the tell-tale rapid blinking of their eyes and saw in those eyes the deer-in-the-headlights look of someone who is, for the first time, experiencing the riotous cacophony that the rest of us know as the normal level of conversation in my family.

As I scooted my chair in, I said, loudly, “Let’s all enjoy the company of the Davis family, as this will be the last time we ever see them.”  Laughter followed, even from them, but I think my wry smile betrayed my knowledge that joining my family for a holiday meal is the ultimate litmus for anyone considering becoming part of my family.  If you can survive a family meal with us, you can pretty much handle anything life can throw your way.

Kelley, Junior & Kelin

Christmas is always a reason for celebration, and this year we had the added joy of my nephew (in-law — but in our family, all hyphens are eliminated) Paul Briones, Jr. being home on leave from the U.S. Navy.

And my nephew, Geoffrey, that day finally proposed to his long-time girlfriend, Jeannette, and she was showing off her ring to the family!

Jeannette and Geoffrey

We are all so happy to welcome Jeannette as an “official” member of the family; especially since they’ve been together since high school!  On the other hand, Geoffrey, my sister, Maria’s, son, we’re still not sure about…  Just kidding, fishing buddy!

Though we missed my son Mario and his beautiful bride, Samantha, this Christmas, we understand work schedules and look forward to future Christmas Eve dinners with them.

Everyone has a job.

I feel so very blessed to have gone through my recent… well.. using “hardships” as a descriptor seems too harsh.  But recently having given away most of what I own, and having had to rely on the kindness of some dear friends for a temporary bed, has helped me to see the material world as just that: Material.  My things are/were nothing more than things.

This bump in my life has allowed me to appreciate the friends and family I have and to regard time with them as all the more precious.  We’ve all heard sayings about appreciating family and friends, but these are so plentiful that, in the stresses of daily existence, they become an easily dismissed cliché.

I have had the opportunity to — more than know the words intellectually — actually feel them.  All the Masters and wise men and women of history talk about our connection with, and love for others, as being the whole reason for our existence.

On this past Christmas Eve, I could think of nowhere I’d have rather been than with seven (four) fishes and 51 assorted nuts.