The true confessions of a mother-in-law

Last weekend I had the pleasure of hosting a bridal shower for the daughter of a very close friend of mine.  Bridals showers are great fun for me, I love entertaining, I love games, and is there a better reason to have punch than at a shower?

Over the last two years my two oldest sons were married.  I have wonderful daughter-in-laws.  I often say that people would line up around the block to get someone like Christina (Greg’s wife) or Meghan (Nick’s wife) as a daughter-in-law.

But that doesn’t mean its easy being a mother-in-law.  I think it’s especially difficult when your son gets married.  I might feel differently when my daughter marries, but I can’t speak into that at this point!  All of a sudden there is this whole new family that wants to be with your son and his wife as much as you want it.  But, it seems that the “default” family is the wife’s family.  I get that, it wasn’t any different when I got married.  Still, when you are on the receiving end of “Oh, we won’t be here for Christmas this year, but I think we’re free on Flag Day” it hurts!!

But there is one aspect of being a mother-in-law is very easy for me:  my response to my sons and their wives is usually a variation of “I love that!”  “You’re going to move to Africa with dig wells for the children of the Sudan – I love that!” “You’re not sure you can eat BBQ dinner because you’ve embraced being a vegan – I love that!”  “You’re not having children until you’re at least 35 – I love that!”

Oh course I’m exaggerating, but my sons are now bonding with their wives and they are forming a family – the last thing they need is my opinion about the choices they need to make for themselves.  In my brief time I’ve been a mother-in-law I have yet to say “I love that!” while clenching my teeth, but I’m ready all the same.

But, back to the shower.  The theme of the shower was Disney Princesses.  I love almost everything Disney so this was right up my alley.   The decorations were purchased mainly in the children birthday party section, the cake was a children’s birthday party cake.

I made two punches, one with champagne, one without alcohol and iced tea for the shower. 

I would really recommend the champagne punch.  I made extra of the fruit juice mixture to fill ice cube trays so that the punch wouldn’t be water downed by the ice.  I also made the punch (except the champagne) the day before the shower, covered the punch bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the freezer. I also sliced the strawberries, put them on a paper plate, covered the plate and froze them as well. I took the punch mixture and frozen strawberries out about 3 hours before the shower.  Right before the shower began I poured in the champagne.  The result was a flavorful, slightly slushy drink.  It wasn’t easy to find tangerine juice, and the pear nectar was located in the health-food section of my grocery store.  This was by far my favorite punch of the summer of punches.  The sweetness of the tangerine juice was softened by the crispness of the pear nectar.  The Cointreau added warmth and the Champagne added to the crispness of the pear nectar. 

Mimosa Punch

Yield:  Serves 8

Ingredients

2 cups mandarin orange or tangerine juice

2 cups pear nectar or juice

1/2 cup Cointreau

One bottle (750 ml) chilled dry Champagne

2 cups ice cubes

Strawberries, sliced for garnish

Instructions

Combine the orange juice, pear nectar and Cointreau in the punch bowl and mix well. Just before serving, slowly pour in the Champagne. Add the ice cubes, garnish with the strawberry slices and serve immediately

Notes

Optional - make extra juice mixture (1 cup of each juice, 1/4 cup Cointreau, pour juice into ice cube trays.  Use these in place of regular ice cubes.

Pour the juice mixture into the punch bowl, freeze overnight.  Remove from freezer 3-4 hours before serving.  Right before serving slowly pour in Champagne; gently stir to mix slushy juice mixture with Champagne.

Freeze strawberry slices, place on top of punch immediately before serving.

The rest of the menu was a light lunch: chicken salad sandwiches, roast beef, sundried tomato and goat cheese sandwiches, quiche Lorraine and Florentine, scones with clotted cream and blackberry jam.

The shower was great fun, complimented by the food, cake and drinks.  It is a joy for me to bless my friends with a celebration blessing the lovely bride.

So here’s to the mother-in-laws who lunch, aren’t they the best!