Would you be offended....

[barkley]

the only time i was offended by being instructed what to bring to a holiday meal involved a very late invitation from a family member (par for the course-they plan stuff and never call anyone until days before-then get offended because others have made their own holiday plans and cant or wont change them) the invitation (which was left on our answering machine) included instructions that we were 'assigned' to bring dessert (no biggie-i usualy always volunteer for that cuz it's easy) but specifly 'you are assigned to bring a key lime cheesecake'. huh? i don't know what the stores are like where this person lives-but beyond the standard cheesecakes in the bakery or frozen sections we don't have much of a cheesecake invantory that would even remotely include key lime. making one would'nt have been an option either-we only get key limes in the supermarkets for a few weeks a year-and def. not during december. while i'm not offended if assigned dessert and asked NOT to bring a particular item (due to personal taste or allergies) i think it's a bit much to request a very obscure item that would likely entail the person bringing it to have to order it on-line and due to a late invitation fork out increased overnight shipping costs.

all you vegans should hop over to our house for the holidays-i have one vegan sil and so she can enjoy her meal we do plenty of non meat dishes (she does do dairy)-one of her fav's is dh's baked beans. we do the standard recipie but leave out the bacon. tastes great and everyone enjoys it.

 

[tinkerrn]

Hubby and I chatted about this yesterday before I left for work. When I got home late last night he told me tha he ended up calling her and telling her that I don't like broccoli casserole and explained the vegetarian thing to her. Then asked her if I could bring an alternate dish instead. He understood my thoughts and thought it odd too that she told no one else what to bring. He told me he asked her what else the others were bringing. Nothing specific, just a meat dish, an appetizer, desserts, etc.. Makes me wonder why she just didn't call me instead of hubby and why she gave him a specific dish to make and not the others. Oh, well, hubby told me to make my mac and cheese. I think he is now a little irked about being the only one asked to bring a specific dish.

 

[pooksma]

Oh boy! This reminds me of my bro and SIL. Every gathering they have you are expected to bring something and then TOLD what to bring. They are having their annual potluck on Saturday and I was asked that if I came I bring dessert. Maybe I dont want to make dessert!

 

[UtahMama]

Heh-Heh! I LOVE family drama. Especially since a very similar thing happened to me.

At on family get-to-gether I brought a very extravagent green salad with this wine vinegrette poppyseed dressing. It was very expensive to make ingredients-wise.

The next time, my sister in law TOLD me to bring it, I just brought a bagged salad ($2.79) and bottled Ranch! When she said, "Heyyyyy, where's that yummy salad?" I pointed at the bagged salad I had dumped into a tupperware bowl and said, "There ya GO! Too Bad!" I am the family pot-stirrer though. It WAS all done in fun, NOT mean spirited at all.

Make what you want for the potluck and enjoy the company ("Family-Fun" I call it) and if anyone complains, just say "I had to make a dish that I had all the ingredients for"....or, "I couldn't stand the smell of broccoli casserole baking in my house ever again!" or something funny and lite-spirited. Good Luck!