EDITOR’S LETTER: Christmas dinner

The afternoons remain warm, but the mornings and evenings are crisping up like well-behaved bacon. That’s how you know the holidays are upon us here in Maricopa.

The seasonal songs that croon over department store speakers this time of year are like the first appetizer before a Christmas feast. It always amazed me how that same old family dining table and familiar ingredients could transform into a meal worthy of being fondly remembered for half the year — and then mouth-wateringly anticipated the other half.

What dishes grace the table? A stuffed bird, obviously. Roasted potatoes, obviously. Stuffing and cranberry sauce, probably. But creamed spinach? Bourbon balls? A glass of fizz?

There’s really no meal more diverse and limitless.

Maricopa reminds me of a Christmas dinner. Always a new friend pulling up a chair, a tasty new dish in tow. You’ll see what I mean when our newest reporter, Jeff Chew, introduces you to Maricopa’s burgeoning Kenyan community in this issue.

The feast gets larger and the menu more diverse — but it’s still that same table underneath.

Whether you’re setting a Christmas buffet or incorporating the time-honored kids table, there’s just no way to get everyone seated at the same time; someone always gets whisked away tending to a tray of parsnips or supervising the pecan pie in the oven.

Maricopans don’t sit still too well, either. We’re always working on something new and exciting, like starting a band or breathing new life into an ancient sport. Tom Schuman and Monica D. Spencer will tell you more about those endeavors.

At Christmas dinner, there’s probably going to be a luscious cheesecake or a baked stuffed brie that makes everyone swoon. Someone’s got to show up and steal the spotlight — hip-hop icon Snoop Dogg will do just that in Maricopa next month.

Conversely, it seems like one of the dishes never pans out. Maybe a burnt roast or something that fell pudding-side-down on the floor. Whoever is baking the apple pie knows there’s always a bad apple in the bunch.

Likewise, not every Maricopan is the hero in their own story. In this edition, I’m busting yet another case of stolen valor.

At the end of the day, though, Christmas dinner isn’t about the dishes on the table. It’s about the people sitting around it. This holiday season, I’m happy to sit at the InMaricopa table with my readers.

‘Til next year!

The December edition of InMaricopa Magazine is in Maricopa mailboxes and available online.