Time To Make The Dressing

This will be the first year that I can ever remember that one of my grandmothers won't be making the dressing (yeah, for us it's dressing, not stuffing because we don't actually stuff it into the turkey) for Christmas dinner. See, my 2 grandmothers were cousins (which yes, makes my parents 3rd cousins, kind of gross I guess but it seems to have worked out and my brother and I have no birth defects!) and they followed the same recipe passed down from their grandmother, etc. One of them has always made the dressing for Christmas and usually, it was my paternal grandmother. But last year, she was dying of cancer and in the hospital on Christmas so my maternal grandmother made it. But this year, she has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and per her doctor, is forbidden to cook ever again. So this leaves the dressing problem.

My mom has the recipe on paper, which was actually written down by her aunt. I read it the other day and it's 5 pages long! She goes into great detail about how to grind the meat, dry the bread, etc. etc. etc. My mom prepares Christmas dinner every year for close to 30 people. She doesn't, however, have the energy to try to make the dressing. So she is checking into places where they might be able to have the dressing made and picked up on Christmas day. This is where I come into play. I thought about trying myself to make it this year. When I told my parents of this idea, I assumed that my dad would have a fit and tell me that I have too much else to do and that I shouldn't worry about it. But no, his reaction to me was to say "I wish you would."

My problem is that I would want to prepare the dressing the day before (the 24th) and on that day/evening, we have Hubby's side of the family over to our house for our celebration with them. I am pretty much busy cooking all day for that meal, which really isn't anything major though, but still takes time. I know that if I attempt to make the dressing, I will be on my feet all day and probably dead by the time comes to actually enjoy Christmas. Then again though, I will be off on the 23rd and I could prepare some of the dishes needed for the 24th on that day. Oh, what to do???

My parents have told me that the dressing "decision" is totally up to me. Either way, my mom is going to order the carry-out stuff, just in case I decide to try it and end up screwing it up. And if it turns out OK, then she will freeze the carry-out stuff in portions small enough for her and my dad for the next several months.

I really would like to try it and see if I'm up to the task. And if it turns out well, that's awesome, but if not, at least I tried. What do you all think?