The Trick to Creating a Christmas Meal When You Have a Cold

Christmas Table Top

 

So there I was yesterday morning, standing in the kitchen with a running faucet called my nose, and watering eyes without have peeled a single onion. I knew that if I tried to cook the Christmas lunch under these conditions, everyone would have a strong chance of being sick for New Year's Eve.

 

Tabletop

 

I couldn't prepare a meal if I was constantly blowing my nose, washing my hands, wiping my eyes then washing my hands, running to the far corner of the kitchen to sneeze with my head buried in my elbow, re washing my hands, only to blow my nose and start all over again. I needed clean hands period. 

 

Christmas Red

 

Desperate and the clocking ticking, I put a tampon in each nostril. Miraculously my eyes stopped watering, and my sneezing seemed blocked. It worked.

 

Christmas family

 

Maybe more information than you wanted to know, but the thing is… it is a good trick to have if you need to cook a dinner and have a running nose.

 

Besides the four of us at our Christmas table, there was our niece Juliette and her partner Stephan, Juliette's children Tatianna and Jarod, our nephew and Juliette's brother Matthieu, my dear friend Bonnie's son Ben and his girlfriend Emily and my mother in law.

Recipes to follow.

 

P.S.
I pulled the tampons out before having dinner. 

 



Comments

52 responses to “The Trick to Creating a Christmas Meal When You Have a Cold”

  1. I hope you are feeling much better……….
    Let us sparkle and shine in 2013
    Much love
    Jeanne
    Christmas is love in action

  2. this is why i adore you– honest and inventive and SO MUCH MORE–i am glad your dinner was a true success-Merry Christmas to everyone there!!

  3. That must have looked absolutely hysterical. I notice there are no pictures of the solution. LOL

  4. absolutely the most genius idea I have read yet,waiting to read recipes,did you have your photo taken in the kitchen with the tampons in place?

  5. Sharon Penney-Morrison

    I have the visual…ok? Very clever though. I have wadded Kleenx and put in my nose to stop the dripping. Now, I will have to buy some Tampons to keep just for that. I have been free from that curse for 15 years!!
    Everything looked beautiful. I hope your are resting.
    The flu has a good grip on some of my family members.

  6. Sue@Serendipity

    The funniest (visual in my head) solution ever for a faucet nose! Get better and Happy 2013!!

  7. A girl has to do what a girl has to do! It all looked beautiful. Hope you are feeling better soon and Merry Christmas to all.

  8. I think this has to be your funniest post ever. Shopping with my girls and laughed out loud!

  9. Hilarious!!!

  10. Chris Wittmann

    Wow, I knew those tampons would have some use other than what they’re supposed to be used for 🙂 I can just see you wearing them….and I sympathize with your runny nose, my hubby and I have been blowing ours for nearly 2 weeks now…where does it all come from?? I cooked a nice ham supper for just the 2 of us despite still feeling “off”
    Wish we could see a photo of you with the tampons in your nose!!

  11. Chris Wittmann

    Forgot to mention that those regular sanitary napkins, neatly folded in their individual packages make great draft dodgers when stuffed into the cracks of windowsills…you see I have boxes of those things and haven’t needed any in 10 years now, so I had to find a use for them and they sure do keep out the drafts!

  12. Lana Kloch

    what a wonderful story…but of course now that i have been shopping in the brocante i think of tampons as embroidery imprint rolls.
    now that i know what you are referring to, i am rolling in stitches. you seem to come up with the cleverest of solutions.
    now i will count the days and see if everyone is well and there are no colds to be seen anywhere. on then will i adopt your drastic technique.
    love you so

  13. too funny for words … and a good household hint for the rest of us. wonder why Heloise never mentioned it?! : )
    blessings for the New Year – thank you for your fun-funny-poignant-wonderful postings and photos. You make our days a little brighter.

  14. Visualizing this was hysterical! Glad it worked. Your table looked gorgeous, can’t wait for the recipes! I hope you’re feeling much better and stay well in the coming year! Happy holidays and Merry Christmas!

  15. “Auntie”

    Corey, you are toooooooooooooooo funny!
    But we all have experienced such conditions and have needed a solution. Must remember this one, for sure. -gigggggles-
    Hope your cold is gone, gone, gone soooooon!!!
    Hugs,
    “Auntie”

  16. It looked like a beautiful affair. As ever, executed with your own inimitable grace and style, glad you remembered to remove the tampons otherwise it would have been a very different affair!!

  17. Omg, priceless…..

  18. Massilianana

    We want the picture ! We want the picture ! We want the picture ! 😉
    Bon bout d’an !
    Take care !

  19. Maureen, Melbourne Australia

    That’s sealed it! I knew I liked you by reading your blog, now when I visit your part of France I am going to arrange to meet you, you are my kind of girl! (I hope you will want to meet me too ;0) sounds like I’m a random stalker!)
    Maureen, Melbourne Australia.

  20. and you didn’t lose the strings either! Did MIL see what you had done and giggle?

  21. Deanna West Piercy

    That is hilarious! And brilliant.

  22. betty parker

    Corey, This is so funny! I am forwarding it to my sister who has the same problem.
    I loved seeing your wonderful table. I love dishes, table linens, and dishes, etc.

  23. oh, Corey, I hope you are feeling better today and that you were able to get some rest. take care

  24. That is hilarious, Corey! Merry Christmas!!!

  25. Gosh darn, not pleasant being ill esp at Christmas. I’d go for the meds though. Hope you are feeling better! Your luncheon looked fun and wonderful. Take care.

  26. are you teasing us?

  27. Never would have thought of that solution. Good thing you took it out before you served the meal. Now can’t wait to hear what you served.

  28. HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    I also have a cold but never thought of such an original way of stopping the runny nose. No – wait – I was sneezing too much.
    Had I followed your method, they would have exploded out of my nose and landed in some pan or pot full of food.
    In my case, I’m glad I resorted to kleenex and hand washing.
    FEEL BETTER!!! (Isn’t it just awful???)

  29. You crack me up. Glad it worked

  30. Nikki ~ Picnics in Provence

    Classy move pulling the tampons out before dinner……..

  31. That is the funniest solution and so practical, Corey! Can’t imagine how you managed not to crack up laughing unless you were feeling too rotten. Happy Christmas and I hope your cold is easing now. xx

  32. 24/7 in France

    Hilarious and an inventive solution! Feel better soon and Happy New Year!

  33. Tongue in Cheek

    No! Really did it, and it works, absorbs well. The strings added to the charm!

  34. Tongue in Cheek

    Hi Martina
    My mother in law CRACKED UP! She laughed so hard, that it made me laugh too. She especially liked the blue strings. She couldn’t stop laughing.
    C

  35. Tongue in Cheek

    Hi M
    Chelsea took one, but Yann begged me not to put it online.

  36. Amy Kortuem

    Blaaahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

  37. Too funny! I’ll have that picture in my head for a long time:) “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Merry Christmas!

  38. You made me laugh out loud! I can just see you now! It reminds me of the time I put a diaper on the leak in my attic. Necessity is the mother of invention!!!

  39. KAMFreeman

    Corey
    Battling one heck of a cold I laughed and laughed as I read your solution….the story was talking directly to my Christmas Day experience, yet I was not the clever solution finder person that you are…big smiles here.

  40. victoria silva

    This is a funny and ever so great post….loved your creativity to solve a problem!
    Hugs and tampons
    Victoria

  41. You are TOO FUNNY! That is hysterical! Oh, and creative!
    Blessings!

  42. bmagre@prodigy.net

    I laughed so hard when I read this. I love your blog everyday but this one was a classic.

  43. Cheryl ~ Casual Cottage Chic

    Oh, to have a picture of you and your stuffed nose 🙂 Surprised Chelsea didn’t sneak a photo!! Sinus drip from a cold is so annoying! You have a great solution (as long as you stay within the wall of your home). Thanks for the chuckle this morning!

  44. La Contessa

    YOU ARE HYSTERICAL!!!!!!!!!!YOur table setting and friends and family look beautiful!JOB WELL DONE!
    XOXO

  45. cindy hattersley design

    That is absolutely hysterical…and brilliant all at once! Hope you are feeling better.

  46. Ok girls, for those of us who have passed the point in life that tampons are in the closet, we might just want to have a small package on had for drippy noses prior to entertaiining! Unbelieveable!

  47. That must have been a hysterical sight! Very creative on your part and yet another use for those no longer needed tampons! Haha. Sounds like a wonderful family gathering. I hope you’re feeling much better soon!

  48. The vision of you with 2 tampons sticking out of your nose is priceless! You must post a picture! Sorry you were sick for Christmas but it seems you made it ok tampons and all!

  49. I am SO happy I found your blog!!!
    How did you ever think of that?

  50. I seldom comment, but I read this tonight and will never think of you in the same way again. I am passing this post on to my sisters who both have running noses today. You are so funny, Corey. Thanks for the laugh and happy New Year!

  51. Thank you for the laughs. My husband and my French Bulldog were both sick over Christmas; most of our plans for the day changed. I’m amazed that you were able to pull off such a beautiful dinner, even with the help of tampons!

  52. peggy aplSEEDS

    so so funny! glad you got them out before dinner!

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