Does anyone have any Christmas "adventures" they'd like to share, whether
they occurred on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? I'll start the ball
rolling.

First, some background. In spite of the popular culture's depiction of
serving turkey at Christmas, my mother has, for as long as I can remember,
served either duck or goose. Unfortunately (or not), I never took a liking
to either.

A few years ago, my sister and I gave our mother a Brinkmann gas-fired
combination grill/smoker for Christmas as a joint gift. Harmless, right?

A year later, on Christmas Eve, I came home from the retail store where I
worked, and learned of a mishap: there would be no duck that year, because
it, well, caught fire.

How? Mom wanted to smoke the bird for some added taste. Not knowing how much
mesquite wood to put in the smking tray, she put in all of it, rather than
the couple of pieces.

Because the smoker is gas-fired, it therefore has a flame...which ignited
the wood, and the duck, suspended above, also caught fire. Fortunately, my
sister's then-boyfriend, Russ -- now her husband -- happened to either step
outside or look out the back door and see flames coming from the smoker. He
sprang into action to turn off the valve on the gas tank and extinguish the
flames. Consequently, Mom had to quickly find an alternative. While I don't
remember what it was, it might have been ham steak.

A couple of years ago -- I think last year -- my mother asked Russ if he'd
ever had duck at her house for Christmas Eve dinner. "Almost," was his
one-word reply, which made us crack up at the memory.

Dieter Zakas